June has come and gone already – where has the time gone? We are over halfway into 2022! As I read back on this month’s daily gratitudes, I notice that I have been in tune with mind and body and looking to different ways of coping with life’s stresses. After all, self care should not be after care.

Exercising, trying out meditating, cooking, and clearing things out have helped reduce the busy-ness in my mind. June has also been a month of travelling and I do love visiting new places, learning about history, and trying out new experiences.

I feel some media has opened my eyes up to different perspectives too: podcasts presenting different viewpoints on life, Korean dramas presenting different aspects of human nature, and even books I’ve read opening up my eyes too. So here is a learning-filled month of gratitude:

1 Eco friendly products: grateful for eco friendly products today. A couple of things arrived and one thing was installed, so I’m super keen to test it out and be more eco friendly.

2 Hubby: grateful for the hubby today. Did a 4 hour drive which actually took much longer and the hubby helped with directions and supported me when figuring out electric chargepoints. Today was an epic journey day, I’ve not driven such a long distance in a while! So I’m super grateful for the hubby supporting me as I navigate the electric motoring world.

3 Sleep: grateful for sleep today. After a long day travelling yesterday I was absolutely wiped out! Grateful to be able to sleep soundly, rest, and recuperate.

4 A few things today.

Grateful for the hubby for helping me navigate around somewhere I’ve never been before. Grateful for the Queen, as we watched the Platinum party for her jubilee celebrations. Grateful for history, as we visited Byron’s ancestral home and it was interesting learning about the estate and the family.

5 Creature comforts: grateful for creature comforts today, as we are home again. Grateful to know where everything is, grateful to have our own space, and grateful to simply lounge about in comfort.

6 Warmth: grateful for warmth today. A miserable rainy day outside that was soothed with radiators, blankets, and cups of tea – all sources of cosy warmth.

7 A couple of things today. Grateful for the body today, as I did some exercise and I feel I’m going to be aching tomorrow! Grateful for tea, as I’ve had a weekend of very little tea so I’m grateful to have the creature comforts back soothing me and keeping me warm.

8 Body: grateful for the body today. As expected, I am aching after yesterday! I’m grateful for the body for carrying me throughout the day and not being in pain or aching for the majority of the day. The aches, though a tad painful, shows that my muscles work and that I am getting stronger.

9 Work: grateful for work today.

Went into the office for the first time on a normal working day, one of the bosses gave a nice welcome back speech, we also all received goody bags with branded hoodies and other cool things. There was also some really cool ice cream too at lunch, where they make it in front of you on a cool plate. So grateful to be working somewhere where the people care about the employees and the culture is both nurturing and fun.

10 A couple of things today. Grateful for sleep, as I had an hour’s lie in which was lovely. And grateful for sustenance and I’m looking forward to batch cooking dinners this weekend as the ingredients look super good.

11 Hubby: grateful for the hubby today. We explored our little town today, strolled in the sun, had some Korean BBQ, slurped a shared Shakeaway, had a little nap, and played some video games – some lovely quality time spent together.

12 A few things today. Grateful for tidying up and clearing things up, took a little while but worthwhile to see the results afterwards. Grateful for finishing a book I’ve been reading lately about marginalised women in Greek myths. And grateful for tuna pasta bake, which we cooked tonight and always tastes so good!

13 A few things today. Grateful for birds and birdsong. Grateful for sleep, as I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn’t get back to sleep straight away, but somehow managed to get some extra shut eye. And grateful for noodles, because we had some very tasty noodles for dinner tonight.

14 Experimenting: grateful for experimenting today, at least my version of it. Experimenting with timed eco car charging, which didn’t really work out. Also experimenting with haircare, where the jury is still out on that one. I’ve been listening to a podcast where it’s been said that life is like a lab, and experiences and interactions are like experiments – some work, some don’t. We wake up each day trying out new experiments. Grateful for this different perspective.

15 A couple of things today. Grateful for reading, as it helped me get to sleep super quickly last night and of course the book I’m reading at the moment has been so enlightening. Also grateful for music, as I’ve been listening to some classic Disney tunes whilst driving and it always puts me in a really good mood when in traffic.

16 Work: grateful for work today. We had a social get together for the whole office, held in this lovely lake with great bbq food, tasty ice cream, lawn games, scaletrix, and bumper cars. It was lovely to see and meet so many colleagues and to just be social and enjoy ourselves. Grateful for work organising this and grateful for awesome colleagues making it enjoyable.

17 A cool house: grateful for a cool house today. It is super hot, would you believe it, summer is finally here! And having shutters and curtains to keep out the sweltering heat and sunshine has worked out pretty well.

18 Korean dramas: grateful for Korean dramas today, as I’m watching a really interesting one and feeling all the feels. There’s humour, intrigue, mystery, some horror, and surprises – literally all the feels.

19 History: grateful for history today.

Visited a castle and learned lots about history and the royal family tree and culture – all very interesting stuff.

20 Taking things slowly: grateful for taking things slowly today. Taking the scenic route, going at my own pace, enjoying the moment, my mind being where my feet are at. Grateful to be able to take a breath and take things slowly.

21 The body: grateful for the body today, walking in the midday heat during the longest day of the year and being utterly shattered. So I’m grateful for my body carrying me through the day.

22 Afternoon tea: grateful for afternoon tea today. I love it, love cake, love tea, and it was lovely today.

23 History: grateful for a bit of a history lesson and soaking up some culture. Grateful to be able to visit places and learn about the past.

24 Hotel del Luna: grateful for this K drama today, as I’ve finally finished watching it. It’s so good: really funny, heart warming at times, a real tear jerker. It also highlighted some interesting things about loss, grief, death, coping, and human nature in general. Super grateful for this beautiful show and sad that it’s ended.

25 Balance: grateful for balance today. Had a very eye opening and validating conversation relating to triggers and transference/ resonance. It got deep and, like an onion, many layers were unravelled. Also grateful for balance in that my teeth are now wanting saltier things today to balance out my week of sugary treats.

26 A few things today. Grateful for sleep as I slept till noon today, which is the longest lie in since my teenage years I believe – I was out like a light! Grateful for purging, as I spent the afternoon going through old things and categorizing them into piles to keep or throw away, which has been quite cathartic actually. And grateful for podcasts as I’ve been listening to a couple and one in particular reminds me of good old fashioned talk radio and it’s about mental health too so it’s been really insightful listening to this podcast.

27 Clearing out: grateful for clearing some things out and tidying things up today. Oddly cathartic to get rid of physical items no longer needed, like a summer clean, I suppose. Making more room for better things, creating space that better serves who I am now, and inviting better things to enter my life.

28 A couple of things today. Grateful for some exercise, though I’m sure my legs will be aching tomorrow! Grateful to get those endorphins pumping. And grateful for meditation, I tried 10 minutes today and the meditation video I was listening to was really quite impactful. Grateful for these short snippets of self care.

29 A few things today. Grateful for free breakfast at work, even if that means over pouring and ending up with 2 bowls of cereal. Grateful for ice cream at work too, I haven’t had a solera ice lolly in over a decade! Grateful for open and honest conversations today, talking about work, work life balance, and diving deep into rules and values in life.

30 A couple of things today. Grateful for eco cars today, as I was cruising along the motorway this morning and for the first time ever there was an eco car on my left, an eco car on my right, and of course me driving an eco car in the middle lane – eco cars are slowly taking over! Grateful for colleagues today, as they taught me how to play pool in the office which was pretty cool (I’ve never played before).