Grounded Gratitude

Happy New Year!!

A while ago, I started this tradition where I pick a word or phrase that I’ll try and lean into for the upcoming year.

This year it’s grounded gratitude.

This stage of life is wonderful and chaotic. With two boys now, a toddler and an infant, I have never felt such a sense of accomplishment by just loading everyone up in the car. It takes a moment and a decent pep talk once I sit in the driver’s seat and realize the outing hasn’t even really begun yet, ha!

But, jokes aside, it’s been an adjustment adding a newborn to the family. And with that, I noticed I had started working towards the next thing. I was thinking about getting the boys loaded up in the car to go to the library. Then once we were in the library, I was thinking about getting the boys and all our books back to the car, and once we were back in the car, I was thinking about getting everything back into the house.

I realized there were many times I wasn’t fully present in the moment. If there is one thing every parent will tell you, it’s that it goes fast. So, if I can help it, I don’t want to miss a moment.

So I started to find things to be grateful for in the moment.

How wonderful is it that I have a toddler who is taking steps towards independence and wants to dress himself? (even if it feels like it adds an hour to our morning routine :) )

How great is it that I have a toddler who already has a love for books that our library bag is often overfilled?

How lovely is it that we have a cozy home filled with life and evidence of four people and two dogs living in it?

And how amazing that through all of these adventures, I now have a little baby boy who is often wrapped up against my chest either soundly asleep or gazing up at me and smiling?

By leaning into gratitude, I found the next thing that I had been chasing didn’t hold as much weight for me. The present moment had enough to offer and I found contentment in it so I didn’t need to checkmark it off my to-do list. My gratitude grounded me back in the present.

If you’re up for it, I encourage you to try thinking of a word or a phrase to help ground you throughout this next year. I find it to be quite helpful to reference throughout all the year ends up bringing me.