Gratitude isn't just for Thanksgiving

Reaching one thousand in my gratitude journal!

Hi Everyone, Danica Favorite here, and I wanted to share about a subject very important to me. I love Thanksgiving, because it makes us stop and think about all the things we're grateful for. But it bothers me that many of us only take one day a year to sit down and express all the things we're truly thankful for.

Almost two years ago, I started a journaling practice that really changed my life. I keep a gratitude journal. Every day I write down ten things I'm grateful for. When I first started, the rule was I couldn't be grateful for the same thing twice, but now that I have over a thousand things on my list, I've given myself a little more room to double up, as long as I don't do it too often!

Sometimes I skip a day or two, but I find that if I go more than a couple of days without writing in my journal, I don't feel as good or have as good of a day. It's easy to focus on the hard things in life, but when I take time to remember the good, and to count my many blessings, it's amazing to see how much better my life looks. In fact, the easiest way for me to turn any bad day around is to look at that journal, and see how, despite whatever bump I've hit, I have a pretty amazing life.

I'm always skeptical of claims of things that supposedly change people's lives, but can I let you in on a little secret about my life? Ever since I started keeping my gratitude journal, everything in my life has gotten better. It didn't happen overnight, and I can't point to a specific link between the two, but despite having the same ups and downs of life, some higher ups, and some lower downs, I have to say that overall, I am a much happier person. My life is a thousand times better.

It's not that everything bad in my life magically disappeared. I've had some really bad days. Crushing disappointments. But I think I handle them better. And sometimes, in the midst of those bad things, when I can still find things to be grateful for, I can't see the bad anymore. As for the good, I find so many small things to celebrate, from the snow glistening on the trees, to enjoying a peaceful moment with my tea, to hugs from my daughter, and a thousand (literally!) other things in between, I know that I have an incredible life. Even when I'm not writing things down, I often stop and pause in gratitude throughout my day because I know that I have so much to be grateful for!

How about you? Have you ever kept a gratitude journal? How can you add a little gratitude to your day?

Allowing space in your day to relax!

Danica Favorite here, and I've been slowly working on finding a balance between my fast-paced life, and finding ways to care for and nourish myself. I recently started doing videos on Periscope, and yesterday's video was a lot of fun. I'm posting it here, but I also wanted to hit the highlights for those of you who don't want to spend ten minutes watching me putter around my kitchen (but my kitchen is super cool, and you do get a tour of my messy kitchen!).

One of the most important points I made was that sometimes, the very best thing you can do for yourself is to take a break and relax. I was SO tired yesterday, and really struggled with getting going after the holiday weekend. Usually, I try to push through it, but to be honest, I'm not very productive when that happens. So, I took a break, took a walk, made myself a yummy smoothie, and did a fun Periscope of the process. Afterwards, I felt SO good. It was amazing how much more energy I had, and I really think I got much more done than I would have had I not given myself that break.

Sometimes, the biggest thing we need to put on our to-do list is taking care of ourselves. So today, I hope you take a little time to be good to yourself and do something to care for yourself. It might seem like a waste of time, but it will energize and prepare you for whatever else you have to get done.

If you're on Periscope, come find me at danicafavorite. And, of course, I'd love for you to stop by my website at www.danicafavorite.com and say hi.

Allie Pleiter on Life Advice

I bought my daughter a copy of “I Just Graduated, Now What?” as we celebrated her college commencement last month.  These days, the media is filled with life advice for recent grads.  As my son will be donning the cap and gown for his high school graduation this weekend, it’s been on my mind.

My favorite version of this game is “What would you tell your younger self?”  So, in the spirit of graduates everywhere, here is my list of five things I would tell 18-year old Allie if I had the chance:

Ignore the statistics
While it’s good to know the likelihood of something, stats aren’t certainties.  I’ve spent a lifetime bucking the odds—for good or bad—and that’s been 90% of what made life interesting.  Like The Magic School Bus’s Miss Frizzle always said, “Rarely is a long, long, way from never!”

Life doesn’t work like high school or college
Life doesn’t hand out A’s for effort.  Output matters, so while you should embrace the process, get in the habit of focusing on the end game.  Also, what was popular and powerful in high school almost never is in real life.

Marry the nerd
The dreamy guy you think you want now probably won’t turn out to be a decent life partner.  The quiet, studious guy who takes some effort to get to know?  That’s the dependable husband and father that will bloom into a man of amazing character down the road.

Start somewhere
So much of success is digging your heels in and taking the first small step.  Often the plan we lay out at the beginning gets changed.  Almost everyone pays their dues and overnight successes never really are overnight.  A long career in the right direction wins over the hot shot to stardom every time.  Don't wait for the perfect dream job to land in your lap—get as close as you can and work really hard, and the rest will come.

You won’t always look this way
I was gawky in high school.  While I consider myself a well-polished woman now, I sure didn’t start out that way.  Style is something we grow into, confidence can only be earned (or occasionally borrowed).   Conversely, that slim figure I boasted as a young woman is pretty much long gone and while I could wear anything I wanted in my 20’s, now I dress to hide my flaws.  And buy a lot of concealer.

What about you? What advice would you give our high school or college self?