Welcome to Nurturing Gratitude, a blog about being thankful for the everyday things around us...
A little background as to what motivated me to start this:
I am a 31 year old female, who after many years of soul-searching and schooling (two bachelor degrees, and one post-bachelor's diploma later), finally thought I found my calling in nursing. After all, nursing is one of those meaningful careers where every working minute is spent helping others. However, six months into my new career, meaning, or rather meaningfulness, completely eludes me; I mean, it's not like I wonder if I am helping others on a daily basis, because I am, I have no doubt of that. But even after doing 'meaningful' work, somehow I have not been able to feel meaningful; instead, I have been coming home sad, completely exhausted, and on my days off, have been living in a mini-crisis mode, trying to understand why I do not feel the satisfaction, the self-actualization I have been dreaming of all these years.
Hence, the birth of this blog. I thought the new year would be a great way to start on a new project, to remind myself of all the good things I have in my life, and hopefully, I can find meaning in what I do along the way. And if not, perhaps I can be more at peace with my career choice (as I chip away at the 80k student debt I have amassed over the years), and my life as it is today...and somewhere along the journey remind others to be thankful of their surroundings too!
As January ends and February begins, I nurture gratitude with being thankful for:
1. Justin Halpern's "Sh*t My Dad Says."
Why Justin Halpern's book, of all things? Well, a few years back, I had started a 'thankful list,' however as my life got more peaceful, and I felt more in control of things, my gratitude list somewhere disappeared in the blogosphere. As I was thinking of bringing back my gratitude list to 2011 and at the forefront of my life, I got thinking about smartphones (I still belong to the old school, 'unsmart' phones sans apps and email capability) and twitter (am a twitter virgin), and well, somehow Justin Halpern or rather his famous twitter page, popped into my head. Justin Halpern is the 29-year old author who, after being dumped by his longtime girlfriend, and moving back to his parents' home, came up with the brilliant idea of tweeting his dad's comments, and now has his own CBS sitcom, along with a great book.
Needless to say, when I opened my first twitter account a few weeks back, the first person I searched for was Justin Halpern; when I discovered he had a book as well, I went to the bookstore and got his book, which is friggin' hilarious! It is a great book to start the new year with, as I firmly believe in a daily dose of laughter, just as many people believe in daily doses of multivitamins. Justin Halpern's "Sh*t My Dad Says" delivers a 1000 IU of laughter daily (yes, it is cold, I live in Canada, so Vitamin D's been on my mind as well), and has made me laugh on nights I have been dreading to go back to work after my glorious days off, as well as during my breaks, when my mind goes into overdrive thinking how injuring myself repeatedly, and paving the road to long-term disability, somehow equates to meaningful work.
So, thank you Justin Halpern for making me laugh in 2011, and for giving me hope. I nurture my first day of gratitude with you and your book :)
Btw, this is the link to his book:
http://shitmydadsays.com/book
