I don’t know about you but my day-to-day looks a lot different than it did just three weeks ago. It’s wild to think about how quickly things have changed! I’m trying to remain grateful by making a personal gratitude list.

Here’s what things used to look like…

Normally, I was waking up at 4:50 am (yes, you read that right) to go to my Pure Barre class, coming home to enjoy a coffee on the couch to watch a little bit of the TODAY Show, get ready for work (with Pancake sitting next to me, of course) and then heading off to work! Now things are looking a little different: waking up a few minutes before the workday starts, making my own lattes (shout out to my BFF for getting us the best coffee maker), and jumping on a bunch of different Microsoft Teams/Zoom calls as part of my WFH routine.

I began to slip into a serious funk about two weeks ago and was only seeing the “bad” in my personal life and in the headlines. Serious talk: I wasn’t seeking gratitude for what I was currently being blessed with.

Back when I was in 5th grade, I started listing three things I was excited for that day before getting out of bed. At night, I would thank God for three things before I went to bed and this routine carried well into my adult life. I realized, this personal practice stopped for me when the pandemic began and it was time to begin it again!

My Personal Gratitude List

• Pure Barre has been doing Livestream classes to keep studio communities connected during this time of social distancing. My home base (shout out to Pure Barre Garden City) has a private Facebook group where the instructors are teaching themed classes, we all get to see each other still and are counting the classes towards our class counts. These ladies turned lemons into lemonade and I’m so glad to have this little piece of normal!
• Doug and I are getting to spend so much time together! One of my friends described this time as a second honeymoon and I LOVED that outlook and we’ve been taking it on ourselves. From cooking dinners together to spending a little extra time cuddling before bed to watching all the movies we said we’d get to one day: this period of time has been a blessing to us and an opportunity to create a special memory in our marriage.
• Pancake is almost completely potty trained! We’ve had her for just over four weeks as I write this post and she maybe has a handful of accidents over the entire week, rather than every day which is truly a win! Once we’re allowed to socialize again, she’s going to start her puppy classes at PetCo, which we’re very excited about. She’s also being clicker trained, which is helping so much with learning basic commands. She’s a star!
• Both our families have been calling each other so much more frequently and I feel more connected than ever! It’s funny how not being able to see one another can bring closeness in ways I hadn’t imagined a few weeks ago.
• Disney+ has seriously been saving my life! I’ve always loved the classics and I’ve been powering through the library of movies and documentaries available in the last month. If you haven’t seen the documentary on the Imagineers I HIGHLY recommend it!

• I still have a job I can wake up to do every day, which is truly something to be thankful for. Every day I praise God for allowing me to work for a company that allows me to do everything remotely!

If I’ve learned anything in the last few weeks it’s that nothing is guaranteed.

The simple things in life are truly a blessing and by acknowledging them, you can allow their joys to fill you with happiness.

What are you grateful for? Feel free to leave one point in the comments 🙂