“Fourthly, and finally, to write a list of things we are grateful for.”

So, you may or may not know that all week, as part of Mental Health Awareness Week 2015, I decided to start a new ‘Happy and Healthy Challenge’ – basically, I am trying out some of the little tasks and challenges that are so often circling the blogging and social media worlds. This week I decided to do challenge myself to blog in response to a Moodscope reader… find out more here: https://dearestsomeone.wordpress.com/2015/05/11/happy-and-healthy-challenge-moodscope/ 

I’ve really enjoyed thinking positively about those around me and about myself – it something I do, but I don’t do often enough! And when you force yourself to do so it’s really not much of a ‘challenge’ at all; if anything I feel like I’ve been missing out by only focusing on negative things (though I know I don’t purposely do this!) Yet, when you are reminded to think of the good things it’s really not a punishment, or a bad thing at all! 🙂 

So yeah, a list of things that I’m grateful for… I have a gratitude journal – which admittedly I only complete every now and then, but when I do it really does make me happy! (And grateful!) I’m gunna try and limit myself here, otherwise I’ll never stop and I’m not gunna explain them all as this would be a very lengthy post haha! So here goes:

Things that I’m grateful of:

• My friends, my awesome, lovely, truly amazing friends.
• My family, I loves them.
• My bloody cat, the little monster.
• The incredible staff and students at Birmingham City University.
• My support network (in terms of professionals, my GP, Advisers etc.) ❤
• Cornwall, Cornish Pasties and the sea.
• Harry Potter.
• Being able to escape in a good book.
• Musicals, and ace singers – fill my heart with warmth, and are an ace way to pay attention to your emotions!
• Be able to freely be myself; in all the places I work, study etc. I am able to be myself, I am able to feel safe and feel comfortable – which is something which surprisingly can be restricted without us even realising!
• Being able to share what I’m going through – I’ve spent many years trying to ignore things, and thinking that I’m just making it all up – the shift toward opening up and acknowledging things has been very difficult, yet somehow I manage to do it more now. I know this is down to certain people and I am so incredibly grateful of this – and I am more aware of how I am now starting to feel more comfortable opening up in everyday situations!
• Animals – I love animals haha, they are so sassy, cute and awesome.
• Nature – I love nature haha, I love how great it makes me feel, and (this is gunna sound sad) but if you look really closely at something – like a flower or something I think it’s really cool to think about how that flower came to be. (So dramatic hahaha). 
• Creative things – the world ‘creative’ is a bit taboo (I’m inclined to say that, thanks to my MA studies of the Creative Industries haha) but creative things make me happy and they are cool, and they remind me of the things that I love haha.

I have so much that I’m grateful of – don’t want to bombard you with it all!

The little monster.