I don’t have to chase extraordinary moments to find happiness – it’s right in front of me if I’m paying attention and practicing gratitude. – Brene Brown
Inspired a bit by this post from Erika Napoletano (not the self-doubt part, the “where I’ve been focusing” part), I’ve realized that my writing has taken on not so much a dark tone, but a serious, contemplative, and occasionally “here’s what’s wrong with the world” kind of tone. While those are important perspectives, and I’ll certainly return to them, I also need to bring balance to my thinking.
Heck, gratitude is what part of this exercise is all about.
We just finished a kitchen remodel. In thinking about it last night several things became apparent:
- We could afford it. (It wasn’t particularly cheap.)
- The stock market went up while we did it. (See previous point. 🙂 )
- We “survived” our temporary living arrangements without much impact at all. Seriously, living without a real kitchen for nearly four months is no small feat.
- Kathy’s got awesome design sense.
- We found a great contractor for the job, as well as great design assistance.
- We love the result.
- The one “design flaw” (my own fault) is really only a minor annoyance.
- The one “implementation error” looks like it will have low, if any, impact at all.
In short, it’s done, it went well, and we’re exceptionally pleased with the result.
That’s a lot to be grateful for.
We’re looking forward to our first “event” in the new kitchen – our traditional Christmas dinner with a few close friends (whom we’re also very grateful for).
But even at a more mundane level, there’s so much that went well, that I can be grateful for before, during, and after the fact. The dogs handled all the strangers in the house awesomely. I have my garage back. The sub-contractors did great work. Communication was never an issue. I was able to continue my work-at-home lifestyle even during the occasional chaos. (And, as needed, Starbucks wasn’t that far away.)
Some may find some of this petty or materialistic, but the underlying gratitude goes much deeper than having a new kitchen. The people, the experience, the feelings, …. it’s all gratitude worthy, whether or not a kitchen was the result at all.
(*) In case you’re wondering, “F**k” is for “Frak”. What were you expecting? (And yes, that “frak” can be used is a topic for another post some day.)