Starting the New Year With Gratitude

Once upon a time, before I became “too busy,” I used to keep a daily journal. I actually cheated a little and used Keel’s Simple Diary, because at the end of a long day, the last thing I wanted to do was think too much and simply filling in the blanks was fun and brainless (while still meaningful).

Though I no longer keep a journal, I still love looking through my old journals — filled with scribbles, doodles, and little notes to myself — for a dose of inspiration and gratitude when I’m feeling uncertain or restless.

I have always loved the idea of a gratitude journal or a gratitude jar, whereby you write down a good thing that happened to you each day, a good deed that you did, or just a little thing that you were grateful for, and put all those notes into a jar. At the end of the year, you pull out all the notes to remind yourself of all the awesome things that happened that year.

These days, I have my own “gratitude jar” of sorts, a virtual collection of favorite emails, posts and tweets that I save throughout the year. At the start of the New Year, as I reflect on future goals and past accomplishments, I read through all those favorited items and feel supercharged enough to take on the world.

This blog has always been a passion project of mine, and even if Garden Betty had no sponsors and no awards, I would still be writing. And that’s because the pure pleasure I get from reaching out to someone I may never meet, somewhere across the world, is all the recognition I’ll ever need.

Thank you for the words of encouragement, the stories of inspiration, and the very humbling kudos. I am forever grateful for all the love you’ve been so kind to give!