How to be grateful even when grumpy. In this Beyond Good Intentions parenting podcast episode I’m exploring my thoughts on this very topic, and sharing how I felt too grumpy to be grateful, and how I was able to turn that frown upside down.
When I realized I was going to make my 3000th post on Instagram today, I thought it was cause to celebrate and share my gratitude with everyone who has made the choice of joining the community I’ve been sharing. I started my instagram account 7 years ago, July 2011, as we were driving from Texas to California for a family vacation. At first I thought it was just a photo editing app. Then someone told me I could SHARE the images with my friends and see their pictures also. I LOVED THIS! I’d already been family blogging for 5 years and had my blogging “business” for a year at that point. So I pulled them all together on Instagram.
This episode, the day before Thanksgiving, is dedicated to gratitude…but in the hours before recording it, I felt grumpy. Then I didn’t want to talk about gratitude anymore. As I walked down to dinner, all sullen and somber, I told my family my quagmire. And my son Matthew pointed to the yellow sign behind me in our kitchen that says, “Whenever you get sad stop being sad and start being awesome.”
So I thought I’d talk about being grateful even when grumpy. I go into more detail on the below in episode #44, so you can listen right her or on your phone!
From Grumpy to Grateful
Reasons for my grumpiness:
- Husband making dinner, I feel responsible
- Boys gone all day, I feel bad
- My oldest after surgery, hungry and I felt responsible
- My husbands dietary needs for thanksgiving, how can I ease the transition?
- Asking my youngest (again) to clean her room, my room is a mess
- Pull out Christmas stuff
- Overlying friction in a friendship that I don’t know how to deal with. (One of those agree to disagree, but not sure how to move on from that)
- I’ve got things I’ve needed/wanted to do this week that haven’t been done (like this podcast, christmas card, black friday sale, instagram gratitude)
- Feeling inadequate as far as some of my business goals, not
Most days, all of that rolls off my shoulders decently.
Some days, it piles up.
So I made brownies.
Oh, and that’s another thing…
My bad eating habits today and lack of real exercise for weeks is really weighing on my psyche. When I make the choice to exercise each day, my eating habits are much more thoughtful. I’m in the “do whatever, eat whatever mode” right now, and boy those brownies with butterscotch chips inside were SURE DELICIOUS!
Now that I’ve got the grumpy out of the way…I’ll focus on the gratitude!
I really have so much to be grateful for.
I have loved reading through everyones comments on instagram this month, as we’ve discussed daily gratitude. From the silly like beverages and kitchen gadgets to small miracles in each day.
When I said to share something that starts with the first letter of your name, I LOVED the creativity!
So here are some of the things I am Grateful for:
- Faith–even with questions and uncertainty that I have, my faith is in tact, and I pray for opportunities to share my faith on a daily basis
- Family–specifically my husband and kids: they are so patient with me
- Community–right here, the Virtual Village…sometimes it can be tricky with friends in real life when I’ve got this online world. Some people act strange to me, and I don’t know how to rectify that besides just continueing to show kindness, but the truth is, I’ve been more awkward in public in the past few years, more self conscious than i ever have before, so it comes across as probably rude or disinterested, when in reality it’s discomfort.
Listen on the episode to hear my ABC’s of gratitude.
Print off the gratitude alphabet for your Thanksgiving feast right here: Gratitude Alphabet
