loa_log

It’s been a rough few days and weeks for me. It’s not all bad, but the negatives have outweighed the positives recently.

I’m sure everybody goes through times like these, so I thought I would take this opportunity to shift my energy into a more positive direction by thinking of things that I am grateful for. I always see people who journal and do meditations online talk about how it’s good to list out a few things that you are grateful for everyday. Well, I’m not willing to take the time to write a list everyday, but here’s what I’ve been grateful for lately:

Me

• I am grateful that I am physically as healthy as can be
• I am grateful that I worked in the past, so that I can have time and money to be with my family now
• I am grateful that I learned how to drive (even though I believed there would be self-driving cars by the time I was an adult)
• I am grateful that I have the time to be alone to write this post

Family

• I am grateful that my family was able to get together for the first time in 20 years
• I am grateful that my parents are still alive and trying to live
• I am grateful that I have siblings that have gone though a similar childhood as myself and can talk to about anything
• I am grateful that I have relatives that treat me as their own daughter and reach out to me on holidays
• I am grateful that I have cousins that have children, so my grandma was able to see her great-grandchildren before she passed

Friends

• I am grateful that I have friends that I can call, just to talk
• I am grateful that I have friends that I can stay with on short notice
• I am grateful that my parents have friends that look out for them

Other

• I am grateful for family restaurants in Japan being open late
• I am grateful for onsens in Kagoshima being all over the place (and affordable!)
• I am grateful that the weather has been good
• I am grateful that the exchange rate is working in my favor
• I am grateful for the people who worked over the holidays
• I am grateful for convenience stores in Japan actually being convenient

After I started writing my list, I realized it would be best if I categorized it a little, so I ended up with these four categories.

It feels good to think of things that you are grateful for. I see why some people might do this everyday, although I can’t see myself doing so, I might start doing a gratefulness dump once a month.