The Month of Gratitude

November is here which means it's practically Christmas.

Yeah, I know, I know, Thanksgiving is between Halloween and Christmas. But like I told a friend, if Thanksgiving was a person, it would be Otis, and...

But I'll be a good sport, I guess. Hurrup and eat, damnit!

I've kinda been deep diving into my feelings and motives lately. Journaling daily as things come up. The fall/winter does that for me. I go into the cave and assess and reassess what I'm doing and whether or not is working for me. So the first thing that cross my mind when I thought about gratitude was I'm grateful for choice.

I get to wake up and choose how I want to show up in the world. I get to choose if I want to stay the course or if a course correction is necessary.

I saw a post on IG a while ago that said "Whatever you aren't changing, you're choosing."

No, don't get me wrong. Not everything is up for change. Drinking less, working out more. Those are things I'm choosing. But I'm also choosing not opening my mouth when I'm feeling some type of way to spare people's feelings. And while, yes, things happen in life that we have no control over, how we react, whether we rise or wallow, is totally on us. So to sit and complain about circumstances with no real intention to change them...ugh, it's a pet peeve of mine. Like why are we here then? Just to vent? Oh, well say that next time, because I'm already looking for alternatives.

That's also a choice I grateful for: Choosing whether or not to get invested in other people's shit. It's hard though because it's my nature to want to help. (Not to mention it's easy to ignore my own shit when I'm knee deep in someone else's.) But sometimes folks don't want help, and I'm actively choosing to not overstep. Oftentimes it's easy. Other times I'm sitting there like

But there is only so much we can do in the lives of others. Change is an internal job, and the choice to do so isn't a cake walk.

Every day, I pray that I make choices that align with the Divine plan for my life. That by choosing love, I inspire others to do the same. By choosing Mon, those around me will see that it's not selfish to be on some Self-ish. And also that when I see a thing isn't working, I'm brave enough to make a different choice.

So what are you choosing? Is it working for you, or are you willing to go where the wind carries you, because the idea of actually doing some self work scares the hell outta of you? It could be as small as spending less time on your phone or as big as finding a therapist. Either way, we all are choosing something.