Thanksvember

Yes, I know. I'm terrible at this blogging thing. However, Roommate is doing NaNoWriMo (which is National Novel Writing Month, for those of you not up on the bookish acronyms) and apparently it's slightly contagious, because I got bit by the writing bug again (finally). I probably won't be formally attempting to write 50,000 words by the end of the month, but I'm going to attempt my own form of it by blogging more, journaling more, and probably pumping out a short story or two.

Oh, and I have letters to write.

Plus, it's November, and gratitude is a common theme, both in blogs and on Facebook. Sometimes, it seems a little hypocritical to see some of my highly opinionated and often-complaining friends suddenly switch to the things they're thankful for, just because it's November, but it's better than not doing it. I'm okay with my friends softening up and becoming more grateful, even if it's only because of the month. The world can always use a little more gratitude.

Which brings me to the purpose of my post. Because I'm going to try to keep up with things that I'm thankful for this month, and not just because that's what everyone else was doing. I've been sitting on this for a while, actually.

See, I got a promotion of sorts at work. It's not like I'm a manager, supervisor, or anything that sounds cool. In fact, my job description is pretty much exactly the same. I just get to be the team "mom," which means that I come in earlier, keep more copious notes on day-to-day tasks, and serve as the sounding board for the real supervisor's ideas and concerns. It's quite enjoyable, actually.

It came with an unexpected side effect, however, which is that my days are all blurring together. The earlier schedule takes a toll, and because I still (kind of) have a social life (which mostly involves just Roommate), I don't get to bed as early as I like. Somehow, I've been running around in a bit of a daze, stuck in a monotonous routine of work, home, sleep, work, home, sleep.

So where does gratitude come in? (Because it does.)

Well, the fact is that it needs to, because that's my problem. It's not like I'm out of time, or I'm wearing myself absolutely thin doing a million things. My days are usually quite pleasurably filled, but I haven't been appreciating them.

You know how, when you're really happy, you savor each and every moment? You treasure and replay the memories, over and over again, wanting to hold onto them forever? I hope you do, because everyone deserves to have days like that. I want to have more moments like that. Because I haven't really been doing much that I feel inclined to hold onto. Or at least, that how it seems, because I haven't been as grateful as I should be.

Because that's the fastest way to turn a seemingly mundane life into a memorable, wonderful one. It's not by changing everything and going out and doing memorable things (though that is certainly one method). You might be doing exactly what you can and should be doing, bound by schedules and the needs of others to seemingly endless monotonous tasks. But the joy of being human is that we are constantly changing. The world around us is constantly changing. Every day, we are a little different, and the people we encounter are a little different, too. All we have to do is take time to notice.

So that is my goal for this Thanksgiving and Christmas season. I want to notice those little things that are different or special about each day and express gratitude for them. I may not be able to change things up very much (one thing about adulthood: responsibilities and obligations must be met, no matter how much you don't want to meet them) but I can take notice of the things that do change.

And do you know what's cool? The more you notice and express gratitude for change, the more memorable and varied your life becomes. :)