Gratitude For June 23, 2021

I know I have been posting blog post after blog post over the last several hours (thanks to mania and insomnia), but I thought I would try something a little different for me and write about 10 things I am grateful for this morning.

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10 Things I am Grateful For Today

1. I am grateful for my mom and my younger siblings.
2. I am grateful for my boyfriend and for the close friends who are always there for me that I adore and love so very much.
3. I am grateful for my bestie and her family (my five Godkid’s that she birthed as well as her dad who was more of a father to me than any other male figure in my life) that I have known for over 23 years.
4. I am grateful for my furbaby Jasper who is like a child to me (since I will never have my own) that I love and adore.(He’s a mama’s boy for sure!)
5. I am grateful for the My Bipolar Mind Blog and for all of the wonderful people who follow this blog that has given me a healthy outlet to vent and share my story with others.
6. I am grateful to be alive despite how sleep-deprived I am right now.
7. I am grateful for the My Bipolar Mind Support Group on Facebook that I created as a safe space for the group members to talk about their mental health and what’s going on in their life. Along with that, I am very grateful for the caring and kind admins who donate their time to help keep the group running smoothly. Especially one admin in particular who has become like a soul sister to me that is currently (still) running the group as lead admin for me after I stepped away because I needed a break and time away from running the group. Without the loving admins and group members, the MBM Support group wouldn’t be around anymore.
8. I am grateful that I have people in my life who understand the challenges I go through with my own mental health and who still show me love, support, and are patient with me even when I am at my worst.
9. I am grateful that I am able to start building back up my mental health care supports after only having a psych doctor to rely on for over year (Which made getting emergency care and help during a mental crisis very challenging and I was usually told if it’s that bad to just go to the ER because the doctor I see was overbooked or not at the clinic most of the time when I needed help the most.) Along with that, I am grateful that after 20 years of trial and error with medication combos, that I finally found the right med combo for me!
10. I am grateful for the little positive changes that took place since last year and that I am no longer stuck in the darkness that made me feel like life wasn’t worth living on a daily basis.

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I am not good with keeping up with daily gratitude lists and such, but I also wouldn’t mind creating and sharing a gratitude list every morning on this blog. I’ve tried doing this maybe once or twice in the past but I would only stick with it for a few days at best before I would forget about it and move on to something else.

Making gratitude lists every morning can actually be very beneficial for mental wellness because it gets you thinking about the the good and happy things that you cherish and that bring you joy. It shines some positive light in your direction.

It is easy to wake up and start thinking about what you have to get accomplished that day which can really stress people out sometimes because they start to worry or get anxious about things that have to get done or about how you are going to manage your time to fit everything in. But starting your day with gratitude can some times place you in a better mood before you have to start thinking about your never ending to-do list.

I think I will try making it a goal to create a daily gratitude list (that I will try to post as often as I can) and see where this takes me. I have never been very good with following things through (which is common for people with bipolar disorder) long enough to make anything into a lasting habit. I start way more projects that I never end up finishing than I would like to admit to.

But I feel this goal is simple enough and that if I remind myself or set a reminder alarm on my phone, I might be able to follow through with this for an entire month. Maybe it will make mornings easier to deal with if I were to write down things that I am grateful for every morning instead of waking up and getting anxious almost immediately when I think about tasks that I have to get done or whatever else pops into my head upon waking up.

Is anyone else who follows this blog up for also trying to create a daily gratitude list as a goal? It couldn’t hurt anything, and you never know… it might help you get your day started on the right foot! I find that it’s easier to maintain goals when you have other people who working on the same goal as you. It can help give you motivation.

If you aren’t too shy, comment below with some of the things that you are grateful for!