3 Thoughts On Staying Grateful All Year Round: Friday’s with Filar #005
Good morning beautiful humans. Here in America, it’s the morning after Thanksgiving - a holiday to give thanks for the people, things, and experiences we’ve been fortunate to have in our lives.
Just three days ago, I flew back from the west coast after spending 5 days in Los Angeles visiting our footwear factory alongside spending the weekend touring Complexcon and connecting with amazing people. That alone is so much to be thankful for. To safely travel cross country, engage in beautiful conversations, and successfully accomplish all that was on the to-do-list for the trip. And then I come back and am greeted by amazing friends and family. So here’s my opportunity to just say how grateful I am for the opportunities in my life.
Feet Finder 🦶🏼:
The last comes first, right? That’s what they say in footwear, or at least what I’ve been hearing since 2012-2013. The last can separate whether the shoe is comfortable or not, too narrow for different consumers around the world, or have very positive feedback from people on fit and comfort.
After visiting our factory this week, I’m thankful that we have found a last that fits super well. This photo is just a simple reminder, and very on brand for this post, to just be grateful for the things we have to work with.
A DOSE OF DESIGN ✍🏼 :
Quick one here. I dont know if everyone’s watching the world cup or not. But the stories coming out about the Japanese soccer team leaving the locker room in pristine condition after their match is something worth writing about.
After their win over Germany, where they could have been celebrating and trashing the place, they cleaned up and even left origami swans for the host country. This type of respect and practice is really special.
THE MAIN IDEA 🙇🏼♂️:
With ties dating back to the late 1600s, in my opinion this holiday has lost meaning over the years. Today its full of football games, Macy’s day parades, and exhaustive travel.
Of course we’ll be able to see peoples family photos online or plates full of turkey and mash potatoes but are we actually enjoying the moment? From what I hear, there’s more conversation of why you need a Tofurkey over a real Turkey. There’s family turmoil around the table fueled with political conversation. We write captions on our posts with pray hand emojis and hearts, but it should be daily practice - not once a year. We focus on those things rather than just being thankful we have food on our table or that we’re seeing our family we hadn’t seen in 5 months.
Speaking personally, there are a number of days that I just wake up and tell myself Im so grateful for everything I have. I understand it’s probably not a ‘normal’ thing to do, but its wildly productive. It’s a fuel injection into my body to acknowledge the things around me. If this isn’t your normal practice, here are some thoughts on how to be grateful, stay grateful and live a thankful life year round.
1. Acknowledgement.
They say the first step is acceptance, right? If you haven’t found yourself telling yourself how thankful you are then lets start there. Being challenged to think this way is difficult at first, but the more you do it, the easier the daily practice becomes. Are you waking up every morning and saying your grateful?
It’s easy to do it when everyone else is doing it - prime example is Thanksgiving! But when you have a really tough day at work, or your car breaks down, will you still put this in practice? If we can get through the idea of acknowledging gratitude, then you can being to start focusing on the things you’re actually grateful for.
2. Notice the little things.
Opening your eyes in the morning. Your ability to walk. Your ability to talk. Your family having a thanksgiving dinner. Your sister having a baby. Your cell phone bill being paid off. You not being sick in 6 months. Still having all your hair. You being alive.
Even the odds of being alive are 1 in 400 Trillion. That alone is enough to be thankful for every single day. But all the above items are the basics of life - you dont need to overcomplicate it. Sure, you can be grateful for your family member arriving on time, bringing you presents and food yesterday. But you can also break it down to I’m thankful I got to hug my mom and dad yesterday.
The little things matter.
3. There’s always the other side of the coin.
This takes a bit of optimistic practice, but in every situation, theres the other side of the coin to be grateful for. Here are some random examples:
You’re running late cause your dog peed on your carpet again and you needed to clean it up before heading home for the holiday. But you didnt know that those 5 minutes you were running late actually saved you from a car accident that happened on your normal route to your parents.
You got sick so you had to take a day off from work. But laying on the couch resting actually gave you the perspective to be thankful for your heath the other 99% of the year.
You wake up and stub your toe going to the bathroom in the pitch black darkness of your room. But you can be thankful to be able to feel, or acknowledge you still have your toes.
Yes - these are extreme but you can break down any example that life throws at you! Hope this provided some insights on how to make your life a little more grounded and full of gratitude.
Also, I couldn’t not share this screenshot of our team’s group text message yesterday. So stoked and proud to be on this team. Talk about gratitude.
Keep smiling ladies and gentlemen. See you next Friday.
DF