Chris here.
I’m going to level with you here – it’s been a little bit difficult for me to write for the Year of Plenty blog lately. I thought for a little while that this was because I was too busy. That’s partially true. Since we started this journey of ours, I started working part time at Life in Deep Ellum, we’ve had some family craziness, and the holidays took away a bunch of our time that would normally be used for work.
But that’s not really the main reason why I haven’t written. The reason is because I’ve been… well, happy. And the things I want to write about are joyful reflections on what life is like right now for us. My concern is that writing about this will cause people to write our story off as unrealistic.
I want to acknowledge that we are really fortunate and privileged.
I had a full-time job, moved to another full-time job, and quit because (among many reasons) it was a terrible fit for our family. I could only do that because (1) we had enough money in savings and (2) Elaine has worked so hard to make her business sustainably profitable. So I could leave a job I hated when there are so many people who will never have that kind of opportunity. Many of you reading this may be in that very spot. You don’t have the privilege of leaving a job because it sucks. You have rent to make, kids to feed, bills that are piling up, and debt to pay.
So, maybe there’s a little bit of a feeling of guilt inside of me. How did our family get so lucky? We get a year together. Yes, we are working hard to make that happen. Yes, there are times when I still have to do things outside of our house. Yes, there are even still hard days and I don’t want to hear whining from the kiddos about homeschooling.
All of this is teaching me a simple lesson. It’s so simple that I’m not sure it even warrants saying. But my hope is that it’s a good reminder for you. The lesson is this: intentional gratitude and recognizing delight are the keys to a full, meaningful life.
See, the Year of Plenty hasn’t been some magic wand that made us happier. It did for a while. And then everything started to become “normal.” The kids annoyed me. I wanted time away. I felt like what we were doing wasn’t enough, or the bank account would be drained in a month or two, or just generally insecure about our lives and where we’re going. All of us feel this way sometimes.
We have a choice when we feel like this: we can either let those feelings color how we see our lives, or we can look for the beauty in our daily lives. We can choose gratitude. We can choose to look for the moments in our lives that bring us delight. Those choices help us find life meaningful –whether you feel stuck in your current situation or have the flexibility to make big changes.
Here are some simple (not always easy!) ways to cultivate gratitude in your life.
- Make a list of 3-5 things each day that you are thankful for.
- Go around the dinner table each day and ask everyone to say something that delighted them during that day.
- Set an alarm to go off on your phone at some point during the day to remind you to look for and acknowledge beauty and delight.
At some point, no matter where you’re at, you may find that life looks a little different for you than it did before.