The year is 2020. The month is May and the world has been plagued by a deadly and fast-spreading virus for months, and I am (strangely?) filled with gratitude.
I am fairly certain that the world doesn't need another piece of content on the Coronavirus because I for one, am fatigued, but I am writing this for posterity. One day, when the Coronavirus is a distant memory, I'd like for this to be a tool of reflection for myself and the other EXTRAordinary people who will read this.
I have been on the gratitude plane for about five years now and it has quite literally changed my life. In times of personal hardship, when my gratitude jar stood without a new addition for weeks, I still tried to find little (often mundane) reasons to be thankful and I am of the opinion that with the world collectively going through a difficult period, now is as good a time as ever to practice mass gratitude. Although our lives have changed; there are no doubt some positive things that have happened because of this change.
Will you sit and reflect with me on what you're grateful for in this period? (Yes, you're gonna need a workbook. Pause your reading and grab it quickly (Haha). Got it? Okay, write down “I am personally grateful for…” and jot down what you’d like to give gratitude for.
Keep reading to learn what I’m giving gratitude for the most these days.
I am personally grateful that this pandemic is happening in the year 2020 and not in the year 2015 when I was in an abusive relationship and would most likely have suffered domestic violence in these times. My heart breaks for those in this situation at the moment.
I am grateful that this pandemic is happening in April of 2020 and not April of 2016 when the job I worked at conducted a mass retrenchment exercise that affected me.
I am grateful that this is happening in 2020 and not 2017 when my mental health was not strong enough to handle living alone as I am for this extended period.
Finally, I am grateful that this pandemic did not happen in April of 2018 because I wouldn't have gone on that life-changing, three-country, solo trip. And neither would I have met my favourite Caribbean just a few days after my return to South Africa.
When I re-frame my view of the pandemic like this, I see how it’s giving me a chance to see how I have thanked my way through life and how far that has brought me. I hope this little exercise does the same for you.
There are so many platitudes about gratitude and the power thereof, so I won’t get into them, but I am a firm believer in the power of giving thanks and being grateful for what you have.
“what you think about and thank about, is what you bring about.”
— every new-age guru that has ever lived
This article originally appeared on Extra Is My Ordinary
