I've been having a little bit of a hard time lately. People go through worse things, that I know. But I've still had some things on my mind that have been consuming my thoughts. I've been checking my horoscope daily to determine how this retrograde will affect my mood. My yoga routine helps, but it is only temporary relief.
Because of these different stresses that have been consuming my thoughts, I turned to some podcasts to help manage. An episode about stress mentioned starting a gratitude journal. I have my journal right next to my bed. It's the same soft, worn cover from high school, with new inserts when the old journals fill up. And yet, the journal goes unopened for days/weeks at a time. I've wanted to start posting here more often, but with two jobs and focusing on self-care in my free time, content is lacking. I haven't been taking photos that often lately, and we're just coming out of winter, where I spent many evenings happily at home. I haven't even finished posting all of my photos from Japan (which makes for plenty of beautiful content for the blog), but I suppose that is a project that I can work on to take me back to a magical place.
So here we begin. I decided to include my gratitude journal here. Some things I am grateful for these past few days...
- 4/14 - Eating tacos for lunch on the Lake Michigan beach, a short walk from the museum.
- 4/13 - Going to dinner in a speak easy with our friend and her new girlfriend. Hidden beneath a restaurant in downtown Chicago is a library with low ceiling, candle-light, and really delicious food. We enjoyed music from the 1920's, and we were even able to find a photobooth picture of us, tacked onto the wall among hundreds of other photobooth photos. Our photo was the last time we visited that restaurant. After a year, our photo is still there, and our friendship is still growing.
- 4/12 - Walking with Mort might feel like a chore sometimes, something I need to do before I can relax. This week, all of the green plants that have sprouted out of the ground have started blooming. Some of my neighbors yards are a rainbow of purples, yellows, pinks. I've always loved spring. Not as much as I love fall, but spring is an excellent transitional period, as well. In the middle of winter, sometimes it seems like spring will never come, and here it is.
- 4/11 - My old jewelry. Going through my mom's old, wooden jewelry box that is now mine, I purged some cheap necklaces and rings that I no longer wear. Looking at the remainder of my necklaces, earrings, and bracelets I realized that a lot of what I kept were gifts. My favorite pieces were not the trendy items I bought in college. The pieces that I still have were mostly from my mom, Steven, close friends, or other family members. I've made a point to rotate my regular jewelry more often. I mostly rotate between two necklaces that are dear to my heart, but I've started bringing my old favorites back into the mix. Through the day, it's like carrying little pieces of memories with me, little pieces of my favorite people.
- 4/9 - Over the weekend, the weather was amazing so our plans with friends was simple: be outside. We visited the Lincoln Park Zoo; families were out, the sun was shining, and we ate ice cream in the grass. It was so nice to see so many people outside, and I'm endlessly grateful for all of the amazing (and free) places we have in our city.
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