Let's see if this gratitude thing works

[sabotabby]

A FB friend with whom I have many and frequent disagreements asked people what they're grateful for. My general response to having a year from hell that culminates in a civilization-shaking plague is not to be grateful about it, but there actually are a few things and I'd be remiss if I didn't state them.

Part of the reason why I don't keep track of things I'm grateful for is that I feel like it's tempting capricious fate/the uncaring universe/the Elder Gods to talk about good things, lest you paint a target on them. So assume a knock wood after all of these things:

I am grateful that:

• No one I know or love has died yet
• I am still getting paid for now and have a roof over my head
• My cat hasn't gotten worse
• I have a supportive online community that is keeping me sane-ish
• I've cultivated an inner life and can handle solitude
• I went vegan and had to learn how to be resourceful in cooking, particularly with canned foods well before this
• No one in the neighbourhood likes the same ramen that I do
• I put so much of my work online already and don't have to necessarily scramble from scratch
• People in my neighbourhood are mostly serious about social distancing
• There's a thread on the caremongering group that is about what we're going to do when all this is over because sometimes it seems like this will never be over
• You're reading this, and I'm grateful for you

There, did I do it right?

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Comments

[minoanmiss]

I feel like it's tempting capricious fate/the uncaring universe/the Elder Gods to talk about good things, lest you paint a target on them.

I hear you. I wrote my own post thus kind of in the teeth of this feeling.

And I think you did this excellently.

[moon_custafer]

No one in the neighbourhood likes the same ramen that I do

A blessing not to be underestimated.

[dewline]

I believe you did.

[kore]

You did fantastic and I'm really happy you have those things.

[joymoose]

Gratitude journaling gets easier as you do it.
I like to preface mine (in my head as) "Not *everything* is awful...."

[symbioid]

Yes, yes you did it right.

I don't like to do that either, probably for the same reasons.

I do wonder what it would have been like during the Black Plague and how having social media changes so much of the equation. But it most definitely is nice to be able to have a social network without having to actually physically be places, and not just using the phone or snail mail.

Yes, it feels like it will never be over.

Grateful for you too! <3

[50ftqueenie]

You did it exactly right.

[mistersmearcase]

Jinxfear: did I ever tell you this? When I was a kid, my paternal grandfather would call me and my sister "mieskeit." It's Yiddish for "ugliness." I guess I just read it as silliness and then a thousand years later a linguistics prof told me that it was a common thing that Jews did because if you talk about something being good, it gets taken away. I didn't realize my weird, I'm-not-otherwise-superstitious jinxfear was a Jewish thing but I guess it is.

I also don't do gratitude lists because I sometimes find gratitude lists smarmy, which is perhaps my own issue. (Obviously I don't mind non-smug ones like this problematic.)

[sara]

I actually make myself write down one good thing a day. I can't always come up with one but I try. And the positive that I get out of it isn't necessarily that it makes me feel better, but that I can flip back through my notebook and see those things and that helps me prioritize doing more things like that. So for example this afternoon I made time for a phone visit with the colleague I periodically have lunch with, because I've noticed that often "Good lunch with K." is a given day's highlight.

[radiantfracture]

You did great.

I hear you about jinxing.

I am grateful for you and your snark and acuity and truth.

That ramen thing is gold.

[mallorys_camera]

You make me laugh.

Thank you.

[pofflewomp]

The ramen one especially!