So September has been an exhausting and tiring month – our first full month after adopting a fur ball, as well as some new work responsibilities racking up. Reading back on my daily gratitudes it appears I needed a lot of rest and recuperation.

I’m grateful that I’m learning to ask for help and support and I fully appreciate the power of talk therapy, feeling listened to, and having a safe space to enable authentic conversations.

As autumn is here, I also notice how I’m more grateful for warm, cosy, and waterproof attire! Something so simple yet effective to help me get through this season.

So, here is my September gratitude journal:

1 A couple of things today. Grateful for our adorable dog who is so cuddly and warm, she was dozing on me this evening and I think she is a wonderful addition to the family. Grateful for colleagues for making today more enjoyable, tough deadlines are looming but having colleague with a fun and can-do mentality is infectious.

2 Humour: grateful for some laughter today, watching funny cartoons with lunch and experiencing the joys of living with a dog. I was sat on the end of the sofa, with no space between me and the end of the sofa, but the dog felt there was plenty of room to cosy up and sit in the tiniest space between me and the end of the sofa!

3 A couple of things today. Grateful for sat nav/ Google maps, helping me navigate as there were major road closures. Also grateful for cuddles with the dog, she was lying on me whilst dreaming and snoring loudly – it was adorable.

4 Body: grateful for the body today, even though lately I have been absolutely shattered! I was able to hack off some branches of our apple tree, walk the dog, and I guess exercise myself too. Grateful that usually my body has the energy to carry me throughout the day, enabling me to do all the things I need to do – even if I am absolutely exhausted by the end of the day.

5 Practice: grateful for practice today. I’ve been looking at tips on YouTube and put them into practise today, took a little while, but I’d say there were some improvements. Not majorly successful, but getting up that hill and improvements have been made. Grateful to have these resources to aid me and reminding myself that little steps count.

6 Cosy wear: grateful for cosy wear today. It has been raining and cold, so the hoodies have come out, as well as the thick dressing gown, and also the fluffy slippers and thick cosy socks. I suppose wearapy is a thing.

7 Hubby: grateful for the hubby today, who has been a great help with the dog who seemed to be absolutely wild today! Work has been super busy and I just needed some focus time, so the hubby and I swapped studies, hoping the dog would stay with the hubby. That was most certainly not what happened! In the end we swapped back and the hubby did his best to tire out the dog and it worked! I managed to get more work done. Clearly the dog isn’t keen on change!

8 A few things today. Grateful for ringing alerts in the car, as it was raining a lot so having alerts helps me drive safer. Grateful for ice cream, as apparently work will shortly stop providing ice cream as it’s no longer summer. And grateful for the Queen, who passed today. Obviously I didn’t know her personally, but she has been a constant figure head throughout my life and I think her passing will impact and change a lot of things.

9 A few things today. Grateful for the hubby, as it is his birthday today and it’s just really nice feeling understood and knowing that someone has always got your back. Grateful for sleep, catching up on some extra shut eye. And grateful for some peace, as I’ve been off social media for a little while now and I feel the reduced background noise has done me a world of good.

10 A few things today.

Grateful for baking, as I haven’t baked a cake in a very long time – in fact, this is the first time cake baking with this oven. Grateful for cake, as cake is super tasty! Grateful for the hubby for training the dog on a couple of commands, as we attended obedience class this morning and we were able to show a couple of commands. And grateful for podcasts, I was listening to one whilst baking and it was very enlightening.

11 Sleep: grateful for sleep today, as I slept in and had a nap with the dog. I am absolutely shattered! Work has been crazy so I feel my body is finally catching up on that and letting me know I need to dial it back a notch. Some epic recuperation was most definitely needed.

12 A couple of things today. Grateful for lists, helping me clear thoughts from my head and transplant them onto paper, and I also really like checking things off from said list. Grateful for scrapbooks, even though I don’t look at them all that often, I’m grateful that I’ve kept mementos of good memories.

13 A couple of things today. Grateful for skincare and saving the environment at the same time, as a new reusable skincare item has arrived that I’m super excited to try out. Also grateful for insightful conversations; I now have an action plan – or research plan – for the near future after this enlightening conversation. And grateful to see things as they truly are: I had a gut feeling about someone and I couldn’t quite explain how I knew, but after this insightful conversation I now better understand.

14 Sleep: grateful for sleep today, as I slept quite late. This recuperation and recharging has been worthwhile and most definitely needed.

15 Waterproof shoes: grateful for waterproof shoes today. Nothing makes you appreciate something more than when you no longer have it I suppose. My trusty old trainers of 10+ years (from memory) have lost their structural integrity and are no longer waterproof. The new trainers I purchased recently are meant to be breathable, which apparently means not waterproof, unfortunately.

16 Old notes: grateful for old notes today. Reading through and reminding myself on forgotten things and hopefully I will remember them when the time comes. Perhaps I take too many notes, but I’m grateful for the recording of knowledge.

17 Hubby: grateful for the hubby today, my free accessible therapist. Grateful for the support, encouragement, and advice. It’s been a very tough few weeks – and a tough few months in general – so it’s good to have a gentle reminder to carve out some time for self care.

18 Nature: grateful for nature today. Took a nice morning stroll with the hubby and the dog, basking in a little sunshine, walking past some sort of football tournament in the local park, meeting some new dogs along the way too. Also grateful for the hubby offering some free therapy during said walk – enlightening stuff.

19 A few things today. Grateful for the late Queen, as today was her funeral. Grateful for perspective, as yesterday I felt I was drowning, whilst today I don’t feel so bad – what a difference a restful night can do.

20 Soda: grateful for soda today, drank Pepsi for the first time in years maybe – most likely pre pandemic. A tasty drink, though super bad for the teeth, but grateful for a little taste of something I never used to have.

21 Alarm clocks: grateful for alarm clocks today, keeping me on track and on time. We have to be vigilant with the new dog and a loud alarm clock has been great in helping me keep to a schedule.

22 Work and colleagues: grateful for work and colleagues today. We were in the office today so had a nice group lunch followed by ice cream. Also a colleague brought back some tasty chocs from holiday – it reminded me of past days when people would bring in goodies just because – good old times.

23 Organised laziness: grateful for organised laziness today, as we had batch cooked dinners last weekend, meaning we only needed to reheat tonight. I view this as a form of act of service (love language) for ourselves and an example of present me thanking past me.

24 Chill time: grateful for some chill time today, as I felt pretty relaxed for the first time in a while. I’m not sure if that’s due to planning on not actually doing anything productive today or due to the success of talk therapy. It feels odd not being productive but I have to carve out time to chill and remind myself that my worth is not tied to productivity.

25 Hubby: grateful for the hubby today. A man with many useful hats: free therapist and advisor, tasty cook, fellow dog walker and groomer. Grateful to have someone on my team and grateful to have someone who is not afraid to have open and authentic conversations.

26 Open conversations: grateful for open conversations today, speaking with colleagues and making things clear in no uncertain terms. Grateful to be listened to, let’s hope that action comes alongside too.

27 Dogs: grateful for dogs today.

We met so many fellow dogs and dog owners – it was nice. And also our dog has such soft and warm fur, I love stroking her, especially now as it’s getting colder.

28 Walking: grateful for walking today. Obviously I’ve been walking with the dog, but that’s been alone, just me and the dog. Today I managed to walk with the dog and the hubby, which was nice, as it’s not usual where all three of us manage to walk together. Pre-dog, the hubby and I used to walk to town or nearby places and we would get in a good old natter, so I’m grateful for today’s family walk.

29 Colleagues: grateful for colleagues today. Went into the office and there was an event to celebrate Hispanic month, though I was unable to attend, the organisers kindly offered Spanish food to everyone – and it was so tasty! Lovely trying out some home made Spanish goodies and really appreciate colleagues are welcoming to sharing their culture.

30 Sleep: grateful for sleep today. Had a little lie in this morning, and I was so shattered that I snoozed on the couch most of the evening too – absolutely exhausted!