This is the second month of my gratitude journal, or gratitude blog, which I’m pleasantly surprised I actually managed to complete for another month. My second month doing this has made me more present and aware of my surroundings, just appreciating the every day and the people around me, essentially focusing on the good and not the bad in my life.

I have gotten into a pretty decent routine at the end of the day of reflecting on the day’s events and thinking of what or who I’m grateful for. This month has been a little more difficult trying to think of new things or people, but then I figured that if I just happen to be particularly thankful to one person or thing or event then that is fine and I can just be super thankful. I have found this month that I have also been noting things that bring me joy too, Marie Kondo style I suppose, and initially tried to stop myself but then thought what brings me joy or happiness can also be what I am thankful for too.

So here is March’s gratitude journal:

1 Trust at work: I spent more time today travelling to and from a networking event than actually at said event, which is something I could never have imagined at my previous work, so I’m grateful to be trusted to represent my firm and attend and travel to such events. Here is me realising this as I took a quick snap of the nearby surroundings at the event in Bournemouth.

2 Spontaneous brunch with friends: great food with great company on a whim, grateful that these people wanted to eat and hang out with us. They also kindly paid for our meal which we were not expecting, so super thankful today.

3 Spontaneous walk: walked from west central to central London in the rain after a big lunch of afternoon tea, but how refreshing after a big meal.

4 Hearing: listened to a podcast where a woman discusses her life after going deaf in one ear, and as I recently recovered from an epic cold that somehow affected my ears (congestion), I’m very grateful that although my hearing isn’t great I can still get by ok.

5 Teeth: dentist visit today and it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting it to be.

6 Team work: team work makes the dream work, grateful for a very helpful colleague today, working together to complete a task.

7 Silence: appreciating silence and background noises when I was brushing my teeth. Odd as I feel I talk about podcasts a lot, but the background noises were comforting after my hearing issues last week and silence is now no longer as sad to me. It used to be sad after my dog passed away as he was a dog that could be heard panting, snoring, or tapping his nails on the floors from almost anywhere, now silence isn’t quite so sad these days.

8 Women: International Women’s Day. Grateful for those before me who are trailblazers.

9 Exploration: walking around and seeing other parts of the city we live in today, making me think about the kind of life and place I used to live in, and making me consider the kind of life and place I want to live in 5 or 10 years time.

10 Pictures: I’m very grateful that over the past few years my husband and I have taken pictures of our lives and our dog, it was lovely reminiscing and looking back at the old boy through simple every day pictures. This is making me think we need to take more pictures of ourselves living in the every day now like we used to.

11 Canva: found this website that helps you create images and it’s really making my creative juices flow, a part of my brain that has not been exercised for so long.

12 Relaxing: grateful to have an evening free of chores and to just relax.

13 Hubby: grateful that he is actively trying to improve himself and learn Cantonese.

14 Impromptu wine tasting: tasted some lovely wines after work with colleagues and grateful for the idea to go.

15 Card games: grateful for these inventions to bring people together and to meet new people.

16 Captain Marvel: so happy for a film to show such great female characters, that you might get pushed or beaten down, but you can always get back up fighting.

17 Me time: using my evening skin care routine and turning it into time to be mindful instead of merely seeing it as a chore.

18 Relaxing: grateful to be able to leave work at a reasonable time to come home and just chill for the evening.

19 Dusk: grateful to have made it home before it got dark, which hasn’t happened for a while, naturally.

20 Pharmacists: one lovely pharmacist helped me today when I needed to get something that I had no clue what it was, she was patient and very informative.

21 Inspirational podcast: such a great walk to work listening to an inspiring cheer leader, advising you to always check in on yourself and your life to ensure you have some of what you want in your life.

22 Catching up: grateful to have caught up with a friend who I hadn’t seen in months and it was as if we had just seen each other yesterday, as if no time had passed.

23 Blossoms: walked past a lovely bloomed blossom tree, grateful that spring is now here.

24 Sunshine: such a lovely blue-skied day.

25 Another inspirational podcast: talking about self-deprecation and imposter syndrome, inspiring me to just own it and try, and if I fail then I fail, everyone fails at something at some point in their lives.

26 Yoga: did a very brief sun salutation this morning and wow how it lifted my spirits and gave me energy for the day ahead, simply breathing during the cat-cow pose and paying attention to my body really changed my view from the morning onwards.

27 Morning exercise: gave me energy for the rest of the day and made me more aware of my bad posture so I tried not to slouch as much, hoping to reap the benefits of this non slouching later in life.

28 Muscles: did a bit of exercise this morning but clearly did not stretch affected muscles well enough and they started aching towards the end of the day, so I’m grateful for my muscles carrying me through the day with no aches or pain (usually).

29 Colleagues: grateful to have a random deep therapeutic conversation with two colleagues at lunch in the sun.

30 Quietness: made it to the centre late morning and there was almost no one around, it was so quiet and empty, so I appreciated seeing the centre of this great city in a peaceful state before the hustle and bustle started.

31 Communication with my husband: there were quite a few things that had to be done before going on holiday and we listed and planned what needed to be done efficiently because we listened to each other, so I’m grateful for having someone who listens to me.