Happy Easter everyone! It is April already and I’m only just reflecting on the March that has seemingly passed me by. And what can I say of March, other than it has been super super busy.

It appears I have done quite a bit of healing and refilling my cup, be it from nature, authentic conversations, exercise, new experiences, or new eco products.

March was also International Women’s Day and I have been actively trying to consume content that better reflects the life I wish to lead. It’s a work in progress, but on reflection, I notice that months like these really show the shift and progress in my healing journey.

So, here is March’s gratitude journal:

1 Grateful for the right frame of mind today. I don’t know how, but I woke up on the right side of bed today – everything went rather smoothly today. I practically did two day’s worth of work in one day! I can only attribute it to last night’s writing and deep breathing exercises whilst doing gua sha, opening up space to allow me to be in the right frame of mind to be so productive. Whatever it is, I’m grateful for it, and I hope to continue to open up space and invite this energy into all aspects of my life.

2 Walks: grateful for walks today. Getting a little exercise and seeing nature and discovering a few interesting local things.

3 Dogs: grateful for dogs today. Saw so many dogs on our walk this morning and also went to a dog friendly place for dinner and there were a couple of very friendly dogs there too, sniffing and being super curious – absolutely love dogs.

4 Birds: grateful for birds today. We have had many visits from birds in our garden recently, sometimes they see me and fly away, whilst other times they are oblivious to my watching and just go about their bird ways. Grateful for having many opportunities to watch birds; I’ve never been able to before.

5 Clarity: grateful for clarity today. Had a deep authentic conversation today which allowed me to better understand the past. It was as if I was lifting a veil, but even more so in this instance, a light was shining and producing a spotlight creating epic clarity. I was already aware of some things, but this conversation really opened up my eyes and totally validated my thoughts.

6 Peace: grateful for peace today. Peace from sleeping, peace from walking outside in nature, peace from having honest and authentic conversations, peace from writing, peace from journalling, peace from organising – all these things have provided me with peace today. And mostly, I feel, my subconscious has caught up with my conversation yesterday: clarity happened yesterday, and evidently peace within me happened today. My thoughts have untangled and there is peace within my mind, my subconscious, and my soul; super grateful for peace today.

7 Organised laziness/ acts of service. Grateful for this today as work was super busy and there was no time to cook dinner. So instead we reheated the weekend batch cooked meal – and voila – dinner was done in mere minutes. Grateful for past disciplined me who was forward thinking enough to consider present me would not have time to cook a healthy meal. Also grateful as this is self care through an act of service, as I was wiped out today and past me was able to take care of present me.

8 International Women’s Day: grateful for this day to really celebrate women. Grateful for the women before me who have forged a path and sent the elevator back down, grateful for women who shatter glass ceilings showing us all that it can be done, grateful for women supporting other women, grateful for women for just being women.

9 Lights: grateful for lights today. The hubby put up some new lights which are super cool. They have super long distant sensors which is really handy, you can change the light intensity and the light warmth/ tone – they are really cool lights lighting up a super dark area. Grateful for new lights today.

10 Learning: grateful for the opportunity to learn today. Had a productive meeting at work to better understand something and ensure everyone is on the same page. Grateful for driving instructors as I had a refresher lesson today to get back on the road. Grateful for these learning opportunities today.

11 Newsletters: grateful for newsletters today. I’ve subscribed to a couple and they are quite thought provoking. One was about imposter syndrome and flipped the view for me, stating that imposter syndrome likely means you try completely new things. And trying new things as a novice or beginner, understandably, makes you think or feel you can’t do it at first – but everyone was a beginner at one point. I felt that was very helpful, and as I look back at the points in my life where I experienced imposter syndrome, they were indeed times where I was pivoting or trying something completely different. I’m grateful I finally learnt this now.

12 Bees: grateful for bees today.

I was out in the garden and heard a buzzing noise, turned around, and there was a massive round bumble bee enjoying some pollen in a green flower. It was huge! I don’t think I’ve seen a bee since I was a kid, so I’m grateful to have seen one today and that it was enjoying my garden.

13 New experiences: grateful for new experiences today. Exploring a new city, walking down new streets, seeing new things, experiencing new places. Grateful for new experiences – variety is the spice of life.

14 Little delights: grateful for little delights today.

Grateful for croissants for breakfast, grateful for mini cottage pies, grateful for being serenaded at lunch, grateful for sunshine and daffodils.

15 A couple of things today. Grateful for my body carrying me throughout the day, I’ve been walking a lot and noticing my legs or ankles hurt, but am grateful that I can get through the day. And grateful for The Batman which we saw today. A brooding reboot that was interesting and twisty, if perhaps a bit long, but grateful we saw it.

16 The hubby: grateful for the hubby today, as we practically had a therapy session talking through some wellbeing and mental health topics. Grateful to have someone who understands me and can swim the deep waters with me.

17 Books: grateful for books today.

Visited a lovely book store and left with some really interesting books that I am super excited to read.

18 Gordon, Gino, and Fredo: oddly grateful for this TV show today. Caught a couple of episodes and I feel they are living the dream – travelling, cooking, drinking, and experiencing new and wonderful delights. It’s great to watch and I think it would be even greater to experience, and if I can’t right now, then I can live vicariously through them.

19 Creature comforts: grateful for creature comforts today. The sofa, my bed, my drinking flask, my mugs – it’s the little things that remind me of home.

20 A few things today. Grateful for sunshine, warming up my body. Grateful for birdsong, which was so lovely hearing this morning. Grateful for colourful flowers in the garden, I love the vibrancy. Grateful for exercise, clearing the mind. And grateful for solid sleep, as I drifted off quite easily last night.

21 A few things today. Grateful for my body being strong and carrying me throughout the day, my legs are super achey – like on fire – and struggling to walk up stairs. So grateful for my body being able to move – even through pain. Grateful for stretching, as it feels so good to stretch and lean into the painful leg muscles being worked. And grateful for gua sha, offering a little meditative peace, whilst also being a good extra step for skincare.

22 A couple of things today. Grateful for a lie in, as I have been getting up super early so it was nice to get a little extra snooze in. And grateful for sun and sunshine – it was so bright and sunny and warm today.

23 Several things today. Grateful for people and colleagues, going into the office to work for the first time ever and it was nice seeing people. Grateful for IT coming along and checking up on things – I got a webcam cover for my laptop and didn’t even know they had any. Grateful for free things, like free lunch and free swag. Grateful for training sessions – actual proper training sessions. It has been so long since I’ve been on one that was well prepared and with PowerPoint, it really is the little things sometimes. Grateful for the refresher and also learning some new things. Grateful that I did not feel any imposter syndrome for something that was quite technical. And grateful for a podcast episode that I listened to, it really helped put some things in perspective for me about support networks.

24 Cookies: grateful for cookies today. Ordered some the other day and they were warm and gooey, and today we ate them cold and they were even tastier!

25 Eco friendly products: super grateful for eco friendly products today as another item has arrived that I have been waiting for absolutely ages! Super excited to test it out and feel it’s gonna be life changing.

26 A few things today. Grateful for the hubby helping me get out of a sticky situation. Grateful for sunshine, as we sat in the sun reading in the afternoon. Grateful for smart technology, as our new eco item is super smart.

27 Heating: grateful for heating today. We turned off the heating as it was sunny the other day, but turned the heating back on briefly today as it was so cold. Grateful for heating existing and grateful we can switch it on and off so easily. Grateful for warmth.

28 Understanding: grateful for better understanding of past interactions. I had a discussion, and slowly, it was as if the muddy waters were clearing and I then better understood what was really happening behind those interactions. The first step is acknowledgement, then understanding, and then – I suppose – maybe the next step is acceptance. Grateful that I am on this journey and making a little progress and learning a lot.

29 Breathwork: grateful for breath work today keeping me calm and rational. Taking things slow and easy, even though I’ve encountered many stressful and high pressured things today.

30 A few things today. Grateful for electricians as we had an immediate call out today which was unexpected but very impressively speedy. Grateful for colourful flowers blooming. And super grateful for unexpected results exceeding my expectations on my latest eco product.

31 A few things today. Grateful for colleagues helping and supporting me. Grateful for naps, as went back to bed for a little while this morning. Grateful for organised laziness, heating up dinner from a weekend cooking session.