Dealing with Challenges, Gratitude Challenge, Uncategorized

November Gratitude Challenge: Days 4-7

So, as I mentioned last week, I’m trying to take the Gratitude Challenge this month but with a little bit of a twist. All my posts are going to focus on something I’m thankful for related to blindness. This past year, I’ve been feeling a bit overwhelmed and often put a lot of pressure on myself and feel very inadequate. Blindness plays a big part of this because I feel like it often presents a lot of extra challenges. I don’t mean to say I’m resentful or bitter; rather, just that I feel like I can’t keep up with it all sometimes. To counteract some of my negative thinking, I’m trying to focus on my blessings. So, here are my daily doses of gratitude.

 

Day 4: I’m grateful for this complete stranger who offered to give me a ride to our church’s temple today. My ward (congregation) was having a special temple day today and I wanted to participate. One of the individual’s helping to coordinate the events of the day (encouraging people to attend, and arranging rides, and lunch logistics, etc.) connected me with this woman who is new to the area and only here temporarily. She gave me a ride and I also made a new friend.

 

Day 5: I’m grateful for neighbors who knock on your door and offer a ride in bad weather without you even having to ask for one. I’m also thankful for Twin Vision books that allow me to read, even if I’m slow, in braille to my children.

 

Day 6: I’m thankful for delivery services. We purchased an item from Lowe’s over the weekend. It was small enough that had we had our own vehicle, I could have brought it home right then (with a little extra muscle power) and we could have assembled it ourselves. But, it was a bit too heavy to carry and I’m not sure I could have convinced an Uber driver to help me load and unload it, not to mention it may not have even fit in their vehicle. So, I paid a little more to have it assembled and delivered today, but it was worth it to get the item and not have the stress of having to figure out how I’d get it home.

 

Day 7: its days like today when I really need to practice gratitude because it is so easy to complain and feel sorry for myself. Today is one of those really ugly, rainy days. I walked my son to preschool this morning, but later when it was time to pick him up, I looked outside to see that it was pouring down rain! I quickly requested a Lyft ride and was able to go over and pick him up. Even though I was frustrated with the situation, had to wrestle my infant and his car seat into the car while being rained on, and was a bit annoyed at the driver who sat practically reclined in his seat munching chips while all this went on, making it extremely difficult for me to get the car seat in and resulting in me taking it out and putting it on the other side. The bottom line is that I have access to resources like this and was able to accomplish the task at hand. Okay, so I’m not perfect but I am trying to be grateful.