Back to basics in March, it seems. Reading over the daily gratitudes, I appear to be quite focussed on food, tea, rest, and writing. I’ve also noticed that I mentioned work a lot, I think because the new work has been super supportive and really creative in virtual collaboration and employee wellbeing.

I’m really impressed actually. But, that’s a story for another time. Lately I’ve been feeling super helpful, checking off tasks on my to-do lists, feeling quite motivated. It’s as if I’ve inadvertently found a new purpose all of a sudden. I don’t know if it’s the new work, the new people, the brighter mornings and lighter evenings, but something has shifted for sure.

So here is my back to basics March gratitude journal:

1 Food: grateful for food today, eating a lovely Italian meal. Oddly, during the pandemic, we haven’t ordered any Italian take out food. It’s odd for us, as Italian restaurants have always been our fave. Grateful to have some Italian food once in a while.

2 Purpose: grateful for a sense of purpose today. I feel that what I do these days is necessary or required, that my skills are needed, and I’m grateful that I can feel needed. Yet not too overwhelmingly so, it hasn’t tipped quite far the other side yet. It’s nice to feel useful and helpful.

3 No night shifts: grateful for not having to work night shifts. Though I’ve been working longer hours this week, I’m grateful I can still sleep in my own bed and not have to catch some shut eye at a place of work. I’m also grateful for no more away jobs, pre pandemic life, and can just stay where I’m at.

4 Tea: grateful for tea today. Drinking lots of tea in this cold weather, feeling quite cosy as I hover over my mugs of tea. Been drinking green tea too, which is supposed to reduce toxins and calm you.

5 Writing: grateful for writing today. I’ve started jotting things down, making lists, getting things out of my head and onto physical paper again. It’s been good, I think the old school act of holding something tangible and using it to clear your mind has helped me a great deal. I’m grateful to have this cathartic and very useful activity.

6 Warmth: grateful for warmth today. Stepped outside for the tiniest bit and it was super super cold. Grateful for heating, radiators, hoodies, cosy socks and slippers, and hot tea. Grateful for the indoors keeping us toasty and warm.

7 Lie in: very grateful for an epic lie in this morning. It’s nice recuperating after working some long hours this week, catching up on some snooze. Had another dream about our old dog, Merlin. Maybe my subconscious is telling me to get another dog already? This time I don’t remember the dream, but I’m grateful for whatever dream time I have with the Old Furry Boy.

8 International Women’s Day: grateful for International Women’s Day today. A day, or month, of celebrating women and their achievements. There is so much to celebrate. There is also a lot of work to do still, but I’m still grateful for this day of recognition.

9 Dinner time: grateful for dinner time this evening. I’ve been working long hours lately and I’m grateful to be able to eat with the hubby and engage in conversation with him over dinner. It’s the small things I guess. Grateful for finishing work at a reasonable time to enable this to happen.

10 Time: grateful for time today. Time to think things through before actioning, time to research things and plan, time to just pause and take a step back. Grateful for time slowing down a little today. Grateful to have time to sit with the hubby and just be.

11 Checklists: grateful for checklists today. Been working through some things and checking them off. Grateful to feel a sense of accomplishment for everything that gets ticked off or checked off.

12 Maintenance people: grateful for maintenance people today. Our towel rail is disintegrating and potentially about to detach from the bathroom wall. But the maintenance people for the flat have been super responsive and reassuring, so I’m grateful for them today and their speedy and open communication.

13 Sunshine: grateful for sunshine on this sunny yet drizzly day. Feeling the warmth stream in from the windows is lovely, waking up to a somewhat bright morning, and having a little semblance of a light evening. Grateful that spring is almost here.

14 Painting: grateful for painting today. We started a new Paint by Numbers, this time of Van Gogh’s Sunflowers. So lovely and relaxing to sit and paint, listening to a production of Terry Pratchett’s Night Watch.

15 Female inspiration: grateful for female inspiration today. Virtually joined an event where a female COO of one our sister companies shared her advice and experiences in working in a predominantly male industry. Very insightful and inspirational.

16 A couple of things. Grateful for work today. Work sent a big package to mark the anniversary of working from home and are holding a virtual event too. Such a lovely thought and a really apt theme and I’m really looking forward to the virtual event. Grateful to be somewhere that really takes note of employee mental health and wellbeing. Also grateful for the hubby. The hubby has booked something today in anticipation for a milestone birthday in a couple of months. Super grateful for the forward thinking because crazily spots are almost full already.

17 Dr Dray: grateful for Dr Dray today. Have discovered this certified dermatologist’s very informative posts and have been learning a lot in one short evening. Grateful for the information and suggestions for healthier skincare.

18 Work culture: grateful for work and the work culture today. Went to a virtual event to mark the anniversary of working from home. It was really well thought through and really well executed. The theme was holidays and airways, with a crime to solve, and music, dancing, and lip syncing. Things in the package that arrived were also used too during certain parts of the virtual event, which was really nice. So grateful for work for organising it all and really taking care of people’s mental health. What a fun collaborative evening.

19 A few things today. Grateful for time, as I had some reallocated time this morning to tidy up and sort out a few things. Grateful for space and patience, as I’ve been working through some things for work and I’ve managed to figure some things out. Also grateful for the film Moxie, which was funny at times, motivational at parts, but also made me angry too. Some mixed emotions but definitely apt viewing for Women’s Month. One thing that stuck with me was the line: “if you want a seat at the table then you’ve got to bring a chair“. It can be interpreted negatively as “no one’s giving you a free ride”, or positively as “work hard, or smart, to get what you want”.

20 Recipes: grateful for recipes today. We tried a new recipe today and made meatloaf for the first time. This was also my first time eating meatloaf. After all these years of hearing about it, I’ve finally managed to eat it. Grateful for a wealth of recipes online meaning we can try and create new things.

21 Writing: grateful for writing today. Reminiscing, writing down thoughts, having a platform to express myself. Also simply having the time to step back and pause to digest and understand everything.

22 Hubby: grateful for the hubby today. He cooked dinner and baked a carrot cake this evening whilst I was finishing off work. Very tasty cake too.

23 Scaling tool: grateful for learning about a scaling tool today. I virtually attended an event that walked through an exercise that helps you think positively to reach a goal, finding achievable action points to implement instead of focussing on the problem and passing blame. Very insightful and useful. Grateful for the speaker for explaining it so well too.

24 Cake: grateful for cake today. Still eating the carrot cake baked the other day, and I noticed that I couldn’t see any carrots this time. A surreptitious, and tasty, carrot cake. Grateful for the extra bit of sweetness today.

25 Organised laziness: super grateful for organised laziness today. Working late and too tired to cook dinner, but we had batch cooked at the weekend so there was no need to cook tonight. Super grateful that after a long day it’s one less thing to do.

26 A few things today. Grateful for grilled meat, which we haven’t had in a while. Grateful for friends and old work colleagues, chatting, connecting, and giving me a laugh. Also grateful for friends sharing their troubles, although I may not be able to help, a burden shared is a burden halved.

27 Photos: grateful for photos today, immortalising memories of the past. Grateful to see photos of our Old Fur Ball, of holidays and day trips – all things we haven’t been able to do for the past year.

28 Sleep: grateful for sleep today. Clocks went forward, so there was one less hour, but we had a little lie in so it wasn’t too bad.

29 A few things today. Grateful for work sending a voucher that I have already redeemed. It’s a food voucher for working long long hours in the days ahead. Not great to be working such hours, but really appreciate the recognition of extra hard work. Grateful for the hubby providing some epic laughter this evening. I laughed so hard both my cheeks and stomach were hurting. And grateful for skincare products arriving today. I’m excited about trying them out and experimenting.

30 A couple of things today. Grateful for the sunshine, warmth, and lighter evenings. Apparently today is the warmest March in 55 odd years. We did step outside for a tiny bit, and I’m grateful for the sun streaming in. Also grateful for work, for the first time in a long while I am actually on top of things. This has not happened, or at least I haven’t felt like this, in a few years. Things kind of seem relaxed and not running away from me.

31 A couple of things today. Grateful for sleep and a lie in. Recuperating and recharging batteries, fuelling up for some long work days ahead of me. And dreaming, I always like remembering parts of dreams when I wake up. Also grateful for a different perspective: understanding and therefore communicating things differently to produce a better result. It’s been quite revolutionary, framing “yes” comments instead of “no” comments to be more collaborative.