A Return to Thankfulness

June 15, 2019 Off By Lisa

It has been a very long time since I shared any words here on the blog.

My last post was well over a year ago now and to be honest, sometimes it feels like so much longer. When I wrote that story, I had no idea it would mark the start of an unintentional hiatus from blogging. Recently, I’ve been thinking a lot about getting this space active again. Somehow, though, I just never quite make the deadline for the linkups or don’t quite get around to finishing (or starting) a blog post I have in mind.

Timing is everything, I suppose, and for a very long while my timing has just been…off. It happens. Life happens, which is the main reason I haven’t been seen around these parts for a while. Eventually, though, circumstances change and timing falls into place again.

When I saw the announcements that the Ten Things of Thankful link-up was celebrating six years, it felt like just the right time to get back to some blog writing.

My relationship with the Ten Things of Thankful crew began with just that kind of coincidental timing. I’m not entirely positive, but I think the first time I wrote a post and linked up with the Ten Things of Thankful crew was back in August of 2013. I happened upon the linkup through one of the “regulars” via another linkup party – I think – and joined in. Why not, right? And then I stayed. I stayed for a very long time, posting TToT lists fairly regularly, sometimes off-and-on for over three years.

The TToT found me at just the right time. Life was a huge pile of change for me back then, not all of it positive. I was frustrated and angry about so many things. I was trying to figure out what the next chapter of my life might look like. It was so easy to get bogged down in all the things that felt wrong. Taking up the regular practice of focusing on a handful of things that were good seemed like a very good idea.

And it was.

I started making a weekly list of just ten positive things in my life for which I was thankful and sharing them with the TToT linkup. I started reading the lists posted by others. And you know what? It was life-changing.

I know how trite that sounds, but it’s absolute truth. I was able to see through the muck of all the transition in my life and get to the root of what was good. That gave me something to build upon. I was able to read the lists of other participants and see the good in their lives, but also read the stories of their struggles mixed in. I was not alone. No matter what you go through in life, it always seems helpful somehow to know that others have done similar things. It’s helpful to know that they, too, have made it through. I made some virtual friends through the TToT – friends I would claim count as “real life” friends, too, and who I am happy to have stayed connected to for these last several years. I admit that I’ve become a bit (a lot) absent in the online world, but I’m hoping that will change again as I move forward through this next chapter in life.

I’ve said on more than one occasion that the TToT saved my life. It sounds dramatic, but it isn’t really. The TToT and its people found me at a time that I needed to connect with something and that’s exactly what happened. It was a little bit of magic, so to speak, just when I needed it most and it was something powerful. It still is. I stopped doing the regular posts at some point a while back, but I haven’t stopped the practice of remembering to find the small moments of joy in the midst of the stuff of life. It makes a difference.

I don’t have a list of specifics here, but I am most definitely thankful for the many blessings in my life. I am very thankful for the Ten Things of Thankful crew – old, new, retired, and more – and that this little linkup is still doing its wonderful thing six years later.

I wish us all another six years of thankfulness and beyond!

Check out the rest of the party links over at the Ten Things of Thankful blog! Click here.