Well hello Friends! I hope you had an amazing week!

This coming Thursday is Thanksgiving in the U.S. and it’s always been one of my favorite times of the year. I love everything about it. 

The traditions. 

The time with family and friends. 

The food. 

The football. 

The Hallmark Christmas movies. 

Who’s with me?!

But more than all of that, I love the reminder to be thankful. To just choose to be grateful for ALL OF IT. 

Because with our busy lives and careers and families, it’s so easy to forget to do that. To either take for granted everything we have or maybe even failing to see how there’s ALWAYS something to be grateful for even when we’re in the middle of really dark times. 

And that’s the part I wanted to talk about today. The importance of being grateful ON PURPOSE. Even when things in your life might not be going exactly as planned. 

Because being grateful is a choice. It’s a decision we make. 

It’s about deciding to view the circumstances of our lives through a lens that actively seeks out the good. And then allowing yourself to really see it and appreciate it.  

Especially important after the past year. 

I mean, come on. 2020? Hot mess express, right?

That’s probably a descriptor most of us would agree with, even in this divided culture we live in right now. 

The great toilet paper shortage of 2020?

The endless months of isolation. 

The not seeing family or friends. 

The not going to restaurants of movies.

People getting sick. 

Losing jobs. 

All of it.  

So today, I want to talk about gratitude as a choice. 

I know it’s a little trite to talk gratitude in November. But I want to talk about gratitude as a daily practice. A tool that will help you see your life and the world that will serve you in ways you can’t even imagine right now. 

I call it The Gratitude Game.

It’s a practice I started doing several years ago when I was going through a time in my career that I didn’t love. 

I had a great job and I loved WHAT I did every day and many of the people I worked with, but I DIDN’T love or even like really, the culture of the company I worked for.   

And on top of that, I had a super long commute – like one hour each way on a GOOD day – and I didn’t love that either. Sure, the podcasts helped (Thanks Brooke Castillo and Amy Porterfield) but many days it wasn’t enough to stop my mind from fixating on the dread of the day to come.   

The nonstop politics.

The bad decisions.

The relentless news of more layoffs.

And so many other things that aren’t worth mentioning now but that I know many of you can relate to. We all have experienced times like this.

So, suffice it to say that when the alarm clock went off every morning at 5:30, it took everything I had to drag myself out of bed and get ready to face the day I knew I had ahead of me.

And when we’re in a time like that – and we all go through them at some point – it’s easy to get lost in that misery. 

To be so focused on the things you HATE about something that you find it impossible to think of even one thing that you love.

Can you relate? Have you ever had a job that filled you with dread or anxiety or misery or maybe just massive boredom? 

For more, give the episode a listen.

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