05. CRAP GRATITUDE
‘Tis the season.
This is the week that we remember to give thanks for all of our loved ones, our accomplishments, our riches. We pause to reflect on the people who make our lives easier and happier. We count our blessings and all the many ways we are fortunate.
Listen, I’m not here to judge you if Thanksgiving is the only time you remember to share your thanks. I forgive you for taking running water, hot meals, clean sheets, dresses with pockets (bless them!), and even your health for granted.
You’ve probably seen the research and you believe the hype: gratitude changes our brain chemistry and makes life better. Maybe you’ve even taken the pledge—THIS is the year I’ll start my gratitude journal. Yep. In 2022, I’ll be captain of the grateful squad. I’ll celebrate even the tiniest of wins!
Good for you. I say gratitude is full of crap.
Don’t get me wrong. I believe wholeheartedly in gratitude and I practice it daily—hourly even. But I don’t limit myself to a list of everything that’s going well. I believe in crap gratitude. I thank my lucky stars for everything. Yes, everything.
I’m grateful for the stain that didn’t come out of my favorite sweater. I give thanks for the panic I felt when the Endocrinologist urgently ordered nine different blood tests, x-rays, and a urinalysis for my son. I feel gratitude for missed deadlines, dog vomit, unstable internet connections, and the endless knots in my daughter’s hair each morning. (But seriously, what the ever-loving-fluff happens to this child’s hair in her sleep?!)
Yes, I believe in crap gratitude—the art of being grateful for the amazing something lying within the otherwise gross, frustrating, irritating and miserable life events or feelings.
That panic I felt for more than a week while I waited for Jason’s lab results was a powerful reminder of how much that little guy means to me, how honored I am to be his mother, how remarkable the human body is, and how thorough his doctors are. It was an opportunity to be vulnerable with my team at work, to share my worries, and feel incredible support. Seriously, thanks for that.
Wondering what I could possibly celebrate in dog vomit? Just ask a rabbit. The poor things aren’t built to barf. That means when something goes in that definitely needs to come out, rabbits aren’t blessed with the ability to eject it and they can die. So when Fern, my Golden Retriever, brings her dinner back to life on my freshly swept kitchen floor, it feels like a win. #blessed.
As you compile your obligatory Thanksgiving gratitude list this year, or perhaps in your next gratitude journal entry (look at you!), see if you can stretch to include some stinkers—the things that didn’t work out, the feelings you didn’t want to feel. Can you find the advantage? Can you be thankful for the crap?
Join me in sharing your #CrapGratitude!
Gratefully,
Rachel
