What I am thankful for this year (2020 Edition)

Happy day after Thanksgiving! I hope you all had a wonderful SAFE turkey day. Can you believe this was our first pandemic Thanksgiving, but I hope you all enjoyed your smaller, hopefully, less stressful holiday? I shared what I was thankful for in 2019 and I figured why not share my 2020 list.

There has been A LOT of things thrown our way for 2020 it may be a little bit hard to find things you are thankful for and even harder to show gratitude for this year, but I know if you look hard enough you can find some good things that happened.

At first, I was going to make this a sarcastic post about all the things that happened in 2020… Which has been A LOT! I could barely keep up with everything that has happened. I have been alive for 35 years and it seems like everything was thrown our way in this one year.

Quick Recap of 2020

Let’s recap some of the things thrown our way in 2020. Some of these are good, some of these are horrible. But all this happened in 2020.

Australian Bushfires
Prince Harry and Meghan stepped down from the royal family
COVID-19
Harvey Weinstein verdict
Stock market crash 2020
Black Lives Matter Protests
Murder Hornets
West Coast wildfires
The Election

Not to mention the deaths that have occurred.

Kobe Bryant
Sean Connery
Little Richard
Regis Philbin
Naya Rivera
Kelly Preston
Chadwick Boseman
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Alex Trebek

You can check out more on Pop Sugars’ website.

On the upside

My year has not been that eventful but there are things that just make me so happy. There were times I was down in the dumps, but what got me out of it was all the things I had right in front of me.

Every day write down the highs you and your family have had throughout the year. So when Thanksgiving rolls around you can share them at the dinner table. Take the time to find things even if they are so small that bring you joy and hold on to them.

Here are some big wins for me and my family

Our health

We had some scares at the beginning of the year when we thought Mikayla might have had COVID. Normally we wouldn’t be so concerned and would know how to treat a cold but this was back in March. We would rather be safe than sorry. The hospital confirmed it was just a common cold.

Although I work from home and only leave to go to the grocery store, Mike is an essential worker and our biggest fear is that he might get exposed. So far so good, but I knock on wood because I am superstitious.

Paying our bills

As I said before, Mike is an essential worker. When the state shut down we were not affected as badly. We weren’t rolling in dough, but I spent a lot of time cutting things out, which that made it a little bit easier.

I do not say this to rub in anyone’s face that we are better, but this is something I am extremely proud of. My heart goes out to those who were truly affected.

Our New House

We moved to Tampa in February. Excitement grew that we would have a bigger house living closer to the areas where we would hope to have more family adventures. But… COVID hit in March and we have been stuck inside. Our exploring has been limited to our neighborhood.

Which has sucked but our neighborhood is beautiful and the people are friendly. We took some money and invested in a couple of bikes and some rollerblades to make exploring a little bit more fun.

Streaming Platforms

It all started with Tiger King… It is funny that the area I live in is mentioned in the show. I have had so much time to watch shows I never would have thought I would have. The Vampire Diaries, The Originals, and Legacies.

My sister convinced me to watch The Crown about Queen Elizabeth became the queen and what she has gone through. It drags a little bit, but I was sent on a whirlwind of emotions. While also watching Blacklist with Mike.

Tonight we are going to watch Clouds on Disney+.

You

A big win for me is you guys. Those of you who come to my site to read what I post. My readers have slowly been increasing more and more each month and It couldn’t make me happier that you all are enjoying my content.

What are some topics that you would like for me to write about?

I love what I do and I love that you guys are enjoying it. When I log on to my site and see your comments, likes, and shares it makes my big heart want to burst! If you keep it up, I will keep it up.

Here are some small wins that bring me joy

The down moments

We have had our fair share of down moments and I put this on the small wins because we could have easily let it consume us and be miserable, but we choose every day to see the good.

When we are down we are allowed to feel our feelings by being grumpy, pouting, or complaining whatever would make us feel better. We say we want/need to say and then we pick ourselves up and look on the bright side. That is most definitely a small win every day!

Being Creative

I have really gotten into making homemade cards, decorating the envelopes, and recently turning an old book into a journal. I want to be creative all the time and make something I could give to someone.

Although I am a perfectionist sometimes… I am working on that by reminding myself to go with the flow. When I feel myself getting overwhelmed I take a step back to appreciate what I created that is right in front of me.

My Penpal

Stephanie at Me Myself and I Make One. She has been a delight since she responded to my Instagram post asking if anyone wanted to be penpals. She has been so amazing. Her letters bring me joy every time I get one in the mail.

Some are letters others are just envelopes filled with stickers and art created by her son. Which I absolutely love because he is the cutest little kid ever!

She has been there at times this year I felt alone and I don’t think words could express how grateful and thankful I am for Stephanie.

Exercise

Mike got a membership to Planet Fitness and we were going every day, but since our car has kicked the bucket we haven’t been going. Which sucked because we LOVED going. I never thought those words would come out of my mouth.

There were times when I didn’t want to go but felt so much better after. Mike goes to the gym for one day and comes home 10lbs lighter. I was really working towards losing some weight. I did lose some but gained it back when we stopped going to the gym.

Now we are trying to find an at-home workout that can keep us interested. Once we get another car I will be going back to the gym.

Michael

What I am thankful for…. This guy right here… The guy who swept me off my feet when I was done with relationships. He was quite a surprise. We are going on 8.5 years together. That is EFFIN wild. Throughout our whole relationship we have done nothing but work hard to better ourselves.

We may have gone through some jobs in the 8.5 years together, but we went from living in a trailer barely making ends meet to living in a house in Tampa in a really nice neighborhood saving up our money to get a new car and buying our own house. Mike and I have big plans for each other, but I will give Mike most of the credit on this because he works his ass off to give us a better life.

Also, we have our ups and downs, but we support each other no matter what we do. Mike is my rock. He is the ONLY person I can be 100% myself with. We are stuck with each other forever.

What are you thankful for?

I know this may not seem like much to some and that is okay. I am a normal person living a small-town lifestyle. We don’t have a lot of money, but we do make the most of what we have. There has never been a day that we are just thankful for this stuff on Thanksgiving, we are thankful for it every day.

Mike and I have been at the bottom of the barrel and we are slowly working our way up and out. Mike and I are so focused on living a better life nothing will get in our way, but we won’t squander what life has given us to enjoy in each phase of our life together.

What are you thankful for that no one else would understand why?

Until Next Time, Have a Great Day!