Day 6 – What are you grateful for?

I awoke to the sun shining and another beautiful day here in Virginia. With so much doom and fear floating around our world right now, mornings like this still remind me we have so much to be grateful for.

My family is all safe and healthy. I know not everyone can say that, but at this moment it holds true for me and is but one thing I am grateful for.

There’s enough food in my house to feed my family for a long time. No, I didn’t run out and horde tons of food in a panic, actually we bought significantly less than normal, why? Because we were ready. Preparedness has always been important to me (just read Compounders and you’ll see it). Having enough food to feed my family for a few months has saved us on more than they just this occasion. Job loss, hurricanes, and snow storms are all recurring issues that we stay prepared for. A worldwide pandemic that shuts the nation down for 3 months, yeah, that’s next level prepper stuff most of us never dreamed could happen, but it has and now we’re in the thick of it with no real clue how long this thing is going to last, but I’m grateful for that little bit of security that being prepared has provided me. I’ll have more on this and tips on how you can get your family prepared coming up later this week.

I am grateful for the calm. I know that sounds silly given the fears and uncertainty right now, but like so many, we were a family constantly on the go. I’m not talking about traveling. That’s a different kind of life on the go. I mean the daily activities and the constant movement that is life of a busy mom of four kids. I feel like some of that stress of being somewhere all the time as lifted and it’s nice.

I am grateful for technology. It’s Sunday, Palm Sunday, to be exact, and I can be home and safe while watching my pastor, Gene Cornett preach inside my church. The community group I co-lead will have Sunday School tonight online. Last night I got to sit down and talk with my readers, online. That wasn’t something I had even considered before this. How much harder would all this be without the ability to reach out and talk to people through technology? I’d probably be climbing the walls by now.

I am grateful for innovative adaptation in my community. It’s not just live streaming church, but last night in a pinch because we were doing other things and lost track of time, we were able to safely go get take out with limited interaction or concern. I don’t know what your area looks like, but the fact is 45% of Virginians get their meals from restaurants. Those buildings are closed, but food is still flowing as restaurants step up and adapt, completely changing their business models through this time. And it’s not just restaurants and physical businesses, but it’s made me look outside the box and become more creative and adaptive in my business too, and trust me, I’m not someone who ever lived inside a box to begin with. I just feel like this is a time of innovation and adaptability that amazing things are going to stem from and I’m grateful that little light in this darkness.

So those are 5 of sooooo many more things that I am grateful for today.

Your challenge for this week:

1. Take account of what is good in your life in the midst of this storm . What are 5 things you are grateful for right now?
2. Think about 5 people in your life or community that you can check in on this week. That’s only one a day, and while it will show them they are not alone, it’s also going to show you that YOU are not alone in this. Reach out to them.
3. Do one thing this week that’s just silly fun. You don’t have to ever admit to anyone you did it, but do it. Anything that will make you laugh. Laughter lifts burdens in ways nothing else can, so do something that makes you laugh this week.