Are you grateful?
A few weeks ago, a friend, lamenting about missing travel, asked a question, “What was the last trip you took?”
I couldn’t remember.
Sure, I remembered the last trip that was cancelled: two glorious weeks of spring break, the first of which would be spent doing college tours with my son, and the second of which would be meeting the family on the beautiful beaches of Hawaii.
But I couldn’t remember the last trip. Can you remember the last trip you took?
I’m sure mine was some work trip for some speaking gig for some client, but for the life of me, I can’t remember what or where or who.
It got me thinking about how I was conveniently forgetting what I had, and focusing only on what I’d lost.
COVID-19 has taken a lot away from us: weddings, birthdays, graduations, and even our livelihoods.
We need to refuse to let it take away our gratitude. So, what are you grateful for this Thanksgiving?
Here’s what I’m grateful for:
1. First, a serious one: I am grateful my health and the health of those I love. I will never, ever, ever take this for granted again.
What a difference good lighting makes! The top photo is just the Right Light on high, while the bottom is the Ring Light and the Litu photos on low.
2. But, really, Instacart (and Instacart shoppers!), GrubHub, Seamless, UberEats, and all the other mobile apps who have built this big, round, poundemic booty of mine. The fact that I can order my favorite comfort foods from the couch, cozily snuggled with my dog, is really just an added bonus.
3. And, while I’m on the subject: my dog. (Obviously. Shh! Don’t tell her she’s not #1 on this list.) Find yourself someone who looks at you the way she looks at me when I’m eating cheese. For real, it will make your life.
4. My words come next. (Well, really, they come — and go — whenever they want. They are, truly, the boss of me.) My writing is my therapy, and it is where I work through my ideas, but also my hopes, my dreams, my anxieties, and my fears. I often curse my words, but overall, we are at peace with one another and I am grateful for them. Except the ones that come in a peri-menopausal burst at 4:30am. Those can go jump in a lake as far as I’m concerned.
5. Fast wifi and all of the various technology that has allowed me to pivot my professional life online and save my business but also my identity, which is now and has always been entirely wrapped up in my work. I am privileged to be able to do what I love — work that both fulfills and reflects me — and the early months of the pandemic felt all kinds of threatening.
6. Speaking of technology and online gigs: lighting, lens, and soft focus makeup. Yeah, it’s fake as fuck, but I don’t care. I’m rounding 50 and I’m looking at my face in the lens all day and I want to feel like I am at my best — so that I can bring my best — for my clients. They deserve nothing less than everything I’d bring them in person, and this stuff does the trick. (By the way, if you’re interested in the full list of technology that I use for my online rig, it’s here.)
7. My dog would probably also not like to know that she and her kind are not the true heroes of the pandemic, but that it’s really all my fellow introverts for whom I am grateful. This has been our time to shine, we introverts who are much more comfortable getting to now someone over the protected distance of social media. I have built deeper relationships with several bomb-ass women over the past six months who have fundamentally shaped my current mental health and my future business outlook. Go us!
8. And, that brings me to the fact that people say yes. I am so grateful for the people who say “Yes!” no matter the question. Over the course of this pandemic I’ve launched all sorts of new stuff, from an online course to a video podcast series. For each, I’ve reached out to various friends, colleagues, clients, and strangers to invite them to be part of the journey, and so many have said yes, even to crazy stuff like being interviewed by me for my next book and having that interview live streamed across multiple platforms. If in doubt, say yes, and figure the rest out later.
9. Speaking of yes, the American people said yes to a whole new administration, an administration that says yes to science, kindness, respect, inclusivity, justice, and humanity. And I am so here for it.
10. Teachers, school administrations, school staff, and educators everywhere who are keeping some semblance of normalcy, even at their own risk, for our children. They should be each given their own personalized, hand embroidered super hero cape when this is all over. (Mostly because they already deserved on before it even began, and this is just, well, a whole other level.)
11. Yeah, I said ten, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention my husband and my sons, and the fact that I love each of them, but also like each of them. And, no, it’s not that they are really #11, it’s just that it’s also always number one through ten, too. (Well, okay, so another point for the pup here, again. Go Juniper!)
