21 Things I'm Thankful For

This year has tested my natural optimism quite a bit. Recently, I wrote about my journey to accept my feelings of sadness and anxiety. And while I do think it's crucially important to learn to be ok with not feeling ok or upbeat all the time, I also make it a habit to consciously look for the bright side.

I've found that taking time to sit back and count my blessings instead of my sorrows helps me to remember that things aren't quite as hopeless as they seem. I have this tendency to lose the forest for the trees, for good and for ill. When I'm enjoying something, I'm clearly having the best day ever and everything is fantastic, but when something bad happens, it usually feels like the world itself has ended and I've belatedly found out about it. So as you can imagine, I often need to force myself to stop and remember that the thing I'm currently consumed by is not the be-all and end-all of my entire existence.

One way I do this is by thinking about specific things that make me happy. Jeff has gotten quite used to my 11pm pleas to 'tell me a happy thought!' I have a mental list of ten or so memories that are my go-tos when I need to break out of a spiraling loop of anxious doom, or distract myself from catastrophizing, and this is a practice that really helps me calm down.

Recently, though, I've been reading about gratitude, and decided to work up a list of things I'm grateful for to complement my happy-thoughts list. A few studies recently have found that people who dwell on the things they're thankful for are happier and more able to cope with hard times. These studies are getting a lot of press, and while I'm usually sort of cynical about whatever's been anointed the new magic-bullet pathway to happiness, this one makes a lot of sense to me.

So without further ado, I present 21 things that I'm grateful for right now:

1. The unconditional love and support that my extended family has always shown to each other is a gift beyond price. Words cannot adequately express how thankful I am for my family. 
2. Jeff. Full stop.
3. I've made lifelong friends that feel like a part of my family, and when I needed to lean on them this year, they were a wellspring of strength.
4. Baby Girl seems to be growing well!
5. On a related note, mommy-and-me dresses are the best invention ever.
6. I don't get tired of things I like, which means that every time I watch Star Wars, it's almost as exciting as the very first time!
7. I'm living in an age where traveling is cheaper and easier than ever before, and technologies like Facetime and texting have made it possible to remain connected to people I love who live on the other side of the country.
8. I've lived in two very different cities in the past decade, and have gotten to cross two of my top destinations off of my travel bucket list: Japan and England.
9. All of the lovely friends I've made through social media make life so much richer!
10. While I didn't land a tenure-track job, I got to chase my academic dreams for eight years, and pursue my interest in political theory all the way through my PhD.
11. After two sweltering summers without air conditioning, we've gotten window units this year! 
12. I really, really love my current job.
13. Twitter is full of amazing things whenever a new political scandal breaks. (In other words, Twitter is great all the time now!)
14. Pizza exists!
15. We got two free years of HBO when we moved to Chicago, which has made it much easier to watch Game of Thrones.
16. Taking blog photos with a tripod wasn't as hard as I'd feared. (Full disclosure: the photos in this post were taken by my mom. She's a whiz with a camera!)
17. Everyone is super nice when they find out that I'm having a baby, and it makes me feel so excited.
18. I got to be an aunt three times over when Jeff and I got married!
19. My car is coming to live with me again this summer, and the part of me who still has an LA mindset will finally feel whole again.
20. American political and governmental institutions are slightly more resilient than I'd feared.
21. Two words: indoor plumbing.

Earrings: bought in Japan in 2005

Collar Clips: Femme De Bloom

Dress: Hell Bunny, discontinued, via my friend Rebecca

And there you have it: the top 21 things I'm grateful for right now. Now I want to hear from all of you! What are two things you're grateful for?

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