Tag: gratitude

Proud & Grateful not Lucky

On Oct. 2, 2016, I wrote the following:

Lucky! I am a lucky person. You may read that after my previous posts and wonder if I have lost my mind. I have not! This morning while driving home from having pictures taken I realized how lucky I am. I have a wonderful, silly, kind daughter. I am abundant enough to get her pictures taken and to provide a good home for us. We have heat, food, and shelter. I have the love and friendship of many family and friends. I am grateful for all I have in my life.

Here is my present reflection on that writing: 

June 2026

Now almost 10 years later, I would use the words grateful and proud instead of lucky. I have the life I am living due to choices and the work I do each day. Not just my job, but healing and emotional work. My job provides the money for the food, shelter and warmth for my family. However, I have also grown emotionally during this time. I try to look at life from the positive side even when hard things happen. It has taken a very long time, but I can confidently say I am proud of my life and all the hard work I have put into being where I am today. 

I am proud of:

* raising my daughter

* 25 years in teaching

* owning my own home

* being a breast cancer survivor

* my ability to provide for my family

* my healing work

* acknowledging and using my creative side

*my kindness

I am grateful for:

* my daughter

*abundance

*family & friends

*writing and creativity

*time in my art studio

*quiet moments

*warm coffee mornings

This does not mean life is perfect and easy.  Life has had and will continue to have its ups and downs. How I react to these ups and downs is different now.  I am also much wiser in how and what I share. Along with who I share these ups and downs with at the time they are happening. I am not trying to hide or overshare for attention.  Older and wiser has helped me prioritize what is important to me and not worry what the outer world wants to feed me as important. I am proud and grateful for the life I have built.  It didn’t come with luck. It came from my hard work; physically, emotionally and spiritually. I am grateful for all of the lessons life has thrown my way. I am a better person because of these lessons. I am proud of and grateful for my life.

With coffee & kindness – Heartwriter Studios

When will the other shoe drop…gasp

When will the other shoe drop…gasp

This was my first post in May of 2016: A whole new world!

My first post – this opens a whole new world.  The Other Shoe, I have always used this expression in a negative way, but starting today I am turning it into a positive.  In the past when I felt as though life was going well, I would wonder when will the other shoe drop and make life hell.  Now I am choosing to say when the shoe drops I am going to pick up the other foot and kick life in the a$$.

After rereading this beginning post, I wondered: what does the other shoe mean to me now?

In all honesty, it is a phrase that has dropped out of my vocabulary. I decided I had to think more positively about life. Life has ups and downs, but I can either look at the downs as horrible & of course bad happened OR I can look for the lesson and know it is just part of life.  This didn’t make it any easier when the downs happened, but I think it helped me to see the many positives I had in my life by not focusing on the negatives. In these last ten years I have worked to focus on gratitude for what I have in my life. Along with the small wins, even if the small wins were 20 minutes of quiet in the morning while I drank my coffee or a hug from my daughter.  These were and still are the BIG moments in my life. I know some of you may think that makes your life pretty boring and that may be true.  I celebrate my small wins and big wins as big wins nowadays. These are my gratitude moments.  These are for me and no one else.  

Honestly, I have worked hard for the life I have created and am living. It is not perfect, but it is mine. I am proud of the  life I have created for myself and my family. I am proud of the “shoe drops” , some have been the biggest lessons in my life. They have helped me reflect on who I am and how I want to move forward in life. 

So while I don’t use this phrase (when will the next shoe drop?) anymore, I know life will have ups and downs. I will take them as they come. I will find the lessons, have f@** you moments, choose joy, choose gratitude, and keep flowing with life and see where it takes me. Right now it is taking me to the kitchen for another cup of coffee  🙂

With coffee and kindness from Heartwriter Studios ♥️