A Gratitude List Of Sorts – Five Happy Things From 2019.

A Gratitude List

I started writing this post on one of my good days. You know the type where there’s nothing particularly joyous happening but you’re sitting there feeling so content in and with yourself. So much that not even the madness that is Lagos and it’s traffic-filled roads can burst your bubble? That type of good day.

I remember writing the disjointed sentences about how thankful I was for the little things and the ways God comes through for me on the note app on my phone, letting the words flow as they came. And boy did they flow.

But somehow over the course of the following weeks, the joy in my heart dissipated and I was left with a familiar hollow feeling – the type that I have spent years fighting off. I got through each day simply by obligation and just couldn’t find the will to pray or come up with anything to be thankful for.

Fortunately, the fog has since lifted off and I’m reminded of this post that I started and abandoned when life got too crazy. In the spirit of reflections that come with a new year, I thought it would be a fitting time to complete and share some of the things I was thankful for the last year.

3 Things I’m Adopting For A More Productive Year + A Free Habit Tracker Checklist.

1. Work.

Wasn’t expecting work to top the list right? I wasn’t too. I started the year knowing that I wanted to work and gain experience in marketing communications/advertisement but I honestly didn’t expect it to happen so soon. (More on this here)

Navigating this new field and adjusting to the corporate world and all its antics hasn’t been the easiest or most ideal, but I don’t take the experience for granted. Working with the fashion weekend team planning and creating content for Africa’s biggest fashion festival is no small feat.

I’m also thankful for my direct colleagues at work. I say this with so much relief because I had heard that the corporate world was a dog eat dog world and mine have so far been as good as they get.

Related: Revisiting The 90s For GTBank Fashion Weekend.

2. Safe Spaces.

What started as a tweet saying that I needed a prayer buddy slowly blossomed into a friendship that has seen me through some of the dark moments. Sometimes, I feel like God saw that I needed someone to help me make sense of the chaos in my head and led us to each other.

I am thankful for the privilege to get to know and have access to someone that empathetic, kind and smart. I am thankful for the safe judgment-free space that I have found in this friendship.

3. Health.

I’ll be honest here and say that after the second point, I found it a bit hard coming up with more things to be thankful for. It’s interesting how we easily forget to be thankful for the things we prayed for long after they come to pass.

Sitting at my desk now and feeling the onset of a slight headache reminded me that I used to have the craziest tension headaches; they would go on for days and render me useless.

I haven’t had them in a long while now and I am definitely thankful for that. Also, since my last surgery, I’ve been in a little less pain than normal during my monthly periods as well.

Although endometriosis is a chronic condition, I am thankful that I can still lead a normal life and go about my day to day life.

Related: On Getting Diagnosed + Living With Endometriosis.

4. Travel.

Travel excites me. So much that I dedicated a post here to describe the many ways in which Travel delights and excites me.  Whilst this isn’t exactly news, I am still glad I got sucked into the world of wanderlust. Most importantly though, I am thankful for being able to fund my wanderlust.

Last year, I got to spend a nice weekend away at a resort in Ibadan and it was a therapeutic time. When I’m asked about my highlights for the year, the memory of that and my time traveling Africa comes to mind.

5. My Blog.

The gift that is my blog. The gift that keeps giving and giving. My blog introduced me to the world of content and the cascade of events that have happened since I launched it is one that I’d never have dreamed possible as a bright-eyed pre-med school student at the start of this past decade.