2021 days of thankfulness
I can’t believe the year is over, where did it go? Did I block it out or was I just too busy to notice the time passing?
Regardless, here we are, almost ready to ring in 2022. Will the coming year be better than the last two? Will it be worse? We can’t know that, all we can do is hope things turn around for the good.
Last year, I was certain that 2021 would be perfect, if we could just make it until then. I gave each of my co-workers a sign, saying, “Let’s just survive this and make it to 2021!” At the beginning of 2021, I took that sign down, fully optismistic that we were “in the clear.”
Well, the start of the new year didn’t go real well, and spirits were already down in the office, so I made another sign, “Let’s just survive this, and make it to 2022!”
Everything in the world was so negative, I decided to find one thing each day to be thankful for and post that on my personal Facebook page, with the hashtag, #2021daysofthankfulness.
Some days, the thing I found to be thankful for, could be as simple as enjoying a candy bar or spotting a colorful sunset. Sometimes, it was much bigger, like being thankful that a friend was healed of a disease or that I didn’t hit a deer on the way home.
If I could find one thing to be thankful for, that meant I made it through another day. Many times, there were too many things to be thankful for than I could post. There were, however, the days when I had a very hard time coming up with one single thing to be thankful for.
Over the year, as people around me suffered losses and disappointments, it was hard to be thankful, especially when a friend of mine left us way too young.
The hardest day, the day I didn’t want to go on, was when I lost one of “my kids,” I couldn’t even come up with anything to be thankful for. I sat for quite some time, thinking, thinking, as tears streamed down my face, and because I knew he wouldn’t want me to be sad, I found something to post: that I was thankful I could be thankful the next day.
And yes, the next day was just as hard, but I pulled myself together and the days of thankfulness went on. I made a commitment to post all 365 days, and by gum, I was gonna stick to it!
As the year went on, more and more people started telling me how much they loved seeing my daily post of thankfulness, that it really inspired them to be more thankful and to look on the bright side.
Now, I didn’t begin those postings for anyone but myself. It was a reminder to me to always be thankful for things, which is not always easy for me; I lean toward being a negative person – a glass half empty type.
But, it’s nice that maybe it helped a few people to be thankful, even when it’s hard, even when it’s easier to give up. I don’t know if I’ll continue the thankfulness posts in the next year, I haven’t decided yet.
I hope maybe my followers on Facebook and in the community will start their own days of thankfulness. It doesn’t have to be plastered all over social media, you don’t have to stop people on the street and share your thoughts with them. You can list the thankfulness in your head, write it in a journal, whatever works for you and speaks to your personality.
No matter what your preference, I hope 2022 treats you well, and I hope you are safe, healthy and happy – and that it is filled with lots of tiaras. I hope the world stops being so mean to each other and works for a better future.
If we have to make a new sign in the office to “survive” until 2023, I’ll let you know, but fingers crossed!
Before the new year hits, I have one last thing to be thankful for in 2021. I’m thankful for always finding something to be thankful for.
