It’s that time of year - sharing what we’re thankful for, blah blah blah. (sorry, that's the cynic in me)
For me, I go inward even more than my usual introverted self does. I try to dig deeper into my gratitude. Yes, all the wonderful customers/friends…..those 2 flow into each other. Yes, I’m thankful for the roof over my head, and food in my kitchen, and a quilt under which I sleep. Every single day I’m thankful for those things.
But I need to go deeper, and draw out:
Gratitude for those who challenge me - those folks I come across and we have an encounter that’s difficult, and leaves us each feeling uncomfortable and each wanting to be right and vindicated. Those folks, those encounters, remind me to be humble, and feel humility, and apologize if I have done wrong, and also to kindly assert myself if I need to in order to grow.
Gratitude for my achy back, my stiff bones, the arthritis in my hand. Grateful for THAT? Well, yes. That pain is telling me that I’ve lived many years, and now it’s time to slow down just a bit and pay attention to the pain and take the time to stretch and do some yoga and take my vitamins and be more mindful of my health. This isn’t an admission of old age, or throwing in the towel. But I am the age that I am and my body speaks to me in the pain, and I listen.
Gratitude for the heavy grief I’ve felt for months in the aftermath of my aunt’s passing. The pain and sadness is hard. Really hard. But in that pain is a pure love for her, and my mom - the 2 women who raised me, who shaped and molded me, who passed down so many of my traits, and who are now gone from this world but are still with me in many ways.
Gratitude for depression. Whoa, that’s a hard one. Without the depression there wouldn’t be the joy that I hold onto each day. I wouldn’t feel so deeply the good and the bad. We simply can’t have one without the other. And I wouldn’t listen, really listen, to others, whether that’s a customer complimenting Hip Stitch or one who says he/she will never shop here again. I learn from both.
So, I wish you a season of contemplation, calm, deep breaths, moments of pure quiet, and much, much creativity!
