PRACTICING GRATITUDE
Hello friends! Happy Tuesday!
I feel like I am finally getting my bearings with our new summer schedule and then being sick with covid…finally feels like we have a normal-ish week where I can catch up on all the things and not feel so behind.
Anyways, last week as I laid around in isolation I will be honest and say that there were moments that I really struggled. Struggled because I was feeling better but still testing positive so I was still isolating myself and I just felt plain frustrated and irritated. I was struggling emotionally with not seeing my kids or being present for them for a week even though I was in the same house as them. Tired of parenting through Facetime. Tired of staring at the same four walls. Sick of laying around and watching TV. I was just plain o-v-e-r it!
I was talking to a friend of mine on Friday when I was feeling 100% normal and stuck alone that I just wanted to be irritated. I just wanted to feel my negative feelings and wallow. She had asked me if there was anything that week that I could be grateful for or celebrate and that was my response. Honest and raw but ugh…not quite what she was looking for or what I actually needed.
As I have started to regain my bearings this week I thought back on that question this morning and wish I could have taken a step back and answered it a little better. So today, I am practicing gratitude for my week in quarantine and thought I would share those here. When I write, it helps it sink in more so this feels really therapeutic.
10 Things I Am Grateful For (during my week with COVID)….
I am grateful that I just felt minor symptoms. When I had it last summer, I ended up in the ER so I am grateful that I only had a low grade fever and mild symptoms for a short amount of time
I am grateful for my in laws for taking the girls twice (both weekends) so that I could rest but know that they were safe and having fun
I am grateful for Joe and Cam stepping up to do everything in the house and get the girls to and from VBS last week. Plus, haircuts and tumbling and all the normal running around I do.
I am SO grateful that no one else in my family got sick. This was my biggest fear that we would just start passing it around and 1 by 1 get it like last summer but I caught it early and was able to keep them from getting it.
I am grateful for the rest I got. I don’t think I knew how run down I was feeling, I needed the rest in a bad way so while the circumstances weren’t great, I got the rest I desperately needed.
I am grateful for books finished and shows watched. I don’t make a lot of time for TV anymore so it was nice to just lay down and watch my favorite shows and find a few new ones. Also got to read a book cover to cover and start 2 more.
I am grateful that I still got to work when I felt like and that I didn’t when I didn’t. I wasn’t worried about clocking in or out or things being a burden to someone else, I just got to rest when I needed and work when I wanted to.
I am grateful for sunshine pouring through my windows. I missed being able to go outside when I wanted to and it was a gift to open the windows and have the sun pouring in
I am grateful for friends and family who checked in on me to make sure I was doing okay. They made me laugh, smile and feel so cared for even from afar
I am grateful for the grace I was able to extend myself in a not so great moment of being irritated. Usually I would beat myself up about those things but….growth! What a beautiful thing to own your feelings without shame or guilt. What an incredible thing to work through those emotions so I don’t stay stuck in them but just honor them and move on.
I am going to end by phrasing the question back to you…what can you celebrate this week or be grateful for even if it isn’t a great week? While I couldn’t answer in the moment (and you may not be able to either) it was so nice to sit down today and rethink that question and reposition my heart!
