Gratitude

Written by Renee VanBuskirk, published September 29, 2021

2020.

Now there’s a sentence.

Twenty-twenty.

2020 affected us from top to bottom, inside out. Things happened in our Nation, in our states, in our communities, in our dispatch centers, in our lives. Spirit, Mind and Body.

It was a year of many things but for my sister and me it became a year of gratitude.

It was her idea. She craved some positivity so we started sharing three things we were thankful/grateful for each day via text. I didn’t think three things would be that hard because generally I think I have a fairly positive outlook. Not going to lie, there were days I had to really search for gratitude, other days the gratitude flowed like a river.

What I really found amazing were the times I was thankful for connection in 2020:

Connection with people at the dog park. I am not a dog park person, but for some reason I was drawn there and I couldn’t figure it out (besides the fact the dog needed a run). Eventually I realized it was an outdoor venue and nobody was wearing a mask. I didn’t even know I missed peoples’ faces. It was a beautiful part of my day to see actual noses and mouths for a few minutes. Oh how I missed expressions! Smiles! Grouchyness! All of it!

Connection with my family. We spend a lot of time together. Between kids being out of school, my husband working from home and never getting to go out, we were together A LOT. But it turns out we all like each other so it was nice (most of the time).

Connection with friends and family via snail mail! I wrote letters to friends and family. And I even got a few back! It was great, it reminded me of my youth when I wrote to friends when they went away to college and a special cousin that lived in Minnesota. (It was the 80’s y’all.) I was also very thankful for text messaging and phone calls shared with friends and the occasional walk.

Connection with new co-workers. I changed jobs in January of 2020. A few months later we were in lockdown. My old co-workers and I had nowhere to go, no way to get together. There were some medical concerns in my household about exposure so all I had was this new work group. Thankfully we all got along pretty well.

I was also grateful for everyday things:

I was grateful for a job. For the resources to handle whatever came our way. We worked hard over a decade ago to get out of debt, and we are committed to staying out of debt so there weren’t any financial burdens on us. (Not that there was anywhere to spend money).

I was grateful to move my body. To take a walk at the dog park, to spend time outside, to create a garden space.

I was grateful for books I read.

Mostly, I was grateful to slow down, to rest, not to have anyplace we HAD to be. I worked hard a few years ago to quiet my schedule, but I really noticed when there wasn’t anywhere to go how busy we still were.

I was, and am grateful for 2020. For the lessons, for the connections, for the gratitude. My sister and I still send each other texts near-daily and I would encourage you to do the same. Find a friend and create a ritual of sending a gratitude text each day.

No friends? I will be your gratitude buddy, just send me a text and I will text you back with my daily gratitude. (Please know this could happen at 2am because, shift work.)

Don’t want to be THAT vulnerable? Create a practice of journaling your gratitude. Seems like a hassle - do you keep a calendar? - write your gratitude on your calendar. It only has to be three words “sun, sleep, dinner.” Why document it at all? Because it is good for you! It’s good for your brain, for your mood, for your complexion. Ok, maybe not your complexion, but you know what I mean. It will improve your life if you let it.

Let it.