What are you grateful for?
Public Thnx4 Journal
Victoria
- November 20, 2023
Friend reassured my concerns about something.
It made me happy.
Sally
- November 20, 2023
Dropped everything to look at the weather and maps to help my nephew and girlfriend navigate their trip through tornado prone weather
Put my mind at ease that they were safer hunkering down than being on the road.
Isabella
- November 20, 2023
I have been feeling a little worried about an aspect of my physical health and it has really been stressing me out. However, I have been realizing that I am healthy and I am really grateful for my health. It may change at some point, maybe even some point soon, but I am grateful for my good health.
This benefits me because there are so many people in awful situations whose health is on the line. I am grateful to be in a safe place with great medical resources. I hope those who are struggling right now will be free from their pain and suffering soon.
hollya
- November 20, 2023
Shared the news of a new family member being born.
I felt included in the family.
Seth
- November 20, 2023
For my gratitude journal, my mother gave me a suggestion that I do not want to ignore. She is grateful for modern medicine, as innovations in medicine and surgery has saved both her life and my life many times. This history is complicated, as although I acknowledge the healthcare professionals perform valuable work in saving lives (all healthcare professionals, in communities around the world), it is only recently that I have learned about the true extent of the medicalization of disability. I now apply such a history to myself, in have either been admitted to hospitals to treat illnesses, electing to have surgeries, or attending therapies throughout nearly every stage of my life so far as a person with disabilities since birth. Balance, then, is important, as although I am grateful for the healthcare professionals that have saved both my mother's life and my life, I now know that the system of healthcare institutions has the very least not always treated people with disabilities as beings with the right to live, and to live outside of institutions in society. This last sentence is certainly contentious, in essence I am grateful for a system that would have most certainly have killed or isolated me as late as the mid-20th century. To go back to my November 9 entry, it wasn't until certain disability rights reforms that created this modern system is it allowed me to be born safely and not separated from my family members by being placed in an institution at birth.
However, paradoxically or tragically, the medical care I have received is beneficial. Medical professionals have saved my life many times and have produced innovations that have improved my quality of life. A lot of the disabilities or conditions I have, as far as I know, will not have permanent treatments or cures for a long time, if even within my lifetime at all. But what I do know is I don't need to be cured, and I would hazard to say that I don't think it would be safe to assume that I can completely. I know that I'm touching on very controversial subjects here in both nondisabled society and the disability community, but I think now —thanks to the contributions of medical professionals and disability rights advocates — have worked hard in making sure the people with disability to get the care they need without repeating the traumas of the past in the medical industry. Indeed, to talk about this in candid terms would definitely be beneficial.
Connie
- November 20, 2023
Very grateful to have most of my adult children together for Thanksgiving Dinner this year!
I'm able to prepare food with love and break bread with family!!!
Carolyn
- November 19, 2023
I’ve had a difficult week and he’s been calm, caring and present.
I felt less alone.
denise
- November 19, 2023
Cousin RR made time to come down here and visit with GF. Also, brought flowers, fav cookies, lot of hugs to GF. RR's positive personality does wonders for GF.
GF could enjoy the conversation, attention and stop being mopey.
denise
- November 19, 2023
a nice 27 hr get away to property and Cambria; fall leaves, eating out, lovely sunset, wine by fire pit w MM
Felt good to do something fun together
Sally
- November 19, 2023
Coordinating nephew and girlfriends arrangement for a car rental and having them stay there an extra day (maybe). I know it seems like a small thing but at this point everything seems like a hassle to me so it was nice that brother did it. I thanked him and Patricia for taking them around and arranging.
Resting a little easier knowing their plans and having a better idea of the schedule this week.
Seth
- November 19, 2023
I am grateful about yesterday, as I was finally able to get a hold on some of the work that I need to complete this fall semester. I am grateful that I still had the opportunity still take a good walk yesterday. Since I need to continue working, this is meant to be a short entry.
This is beneficial to me, as I need to get my work done over the next two weeks until December 4 and December 6, for each of my classes respectively. Having a balance is important to me between my work and recreation, and I am still trying to find that balance to focus on what I need to.
Seth
- November 18, 2023
I am grateful for the fact that I am able to go boating and fishing in Sarasota Bay, as a continuation of yesterday's entry. Although I have several memories fishing, that it is not what I only wish to record. It is the sensation of spreading my arms to my side to feel the ocean-like breeze as very close to flying as the boat engine picks up speed to begin our days out on the water in the morning sunrise. It is the closest natural approximation I have to true freedom even sitting in my manual wheelchair, the one that is light enough to go on my family’s pontoon boat. A freedom that is valuable, as to forget the troubles of everyday life.
As a person with disabilities who is a full-time wheelchair user, I cannot emphasize the feeling of the bay’s wind on my face and hands enough as a truly liberating experience. What happened and the benefits are one in the same to me. (In terms of enjoying nature and my disability limiting my freedom in many ways). To have this experience, although it took me several days to find a place for this memory in my journal as something that I am grateful for.
[I think a vignette like this is better, a series of memories that brings me happiness that I will want to remember forever.]
[I think a vignette like this is better, a series of memories that brings me happiness that I will want to remember forever.]
Carolyn
- November 17, 2023
I try to create a positive, supportive work environment.
Better, it had been a difficult week at work. I felt let down by someone who I’d been very supportive of. My co-worker reaching out made me feel acknowledged.
Ginger
- November 17, 2023
Loves me
Peace of mind
Isabella
- November 17, 2023
My mom has an unexpected upcoming surgery, so she has been feeling pretty mentally low. Due to this, I have been checking in on her frequently by texting and calling because she is in a different state than me right now. Today, during our call, she thanked me for reaching out so much.
I felt really good when she thanked me because she has done so much for me and supported me through my own struggles, so the least I could do is support her in return.
evelin
- November 17, 2023
Fui na piscina com meus amigos e fizemos uma janta depois.
Sou grata por ter meus amigos ao meu lado sempre que preciso.
Seth
- November 17, 2023
Besides my neighborhood, I feel grateful to live in my community of Sarasota, Florida [a smaller city south of Tampa but north of Fort Myers] comfortably from a financial perspective. That is because Sarasota is (1) pleasantly warm even in November and (2) by the water. I'm particularly grateful because a lot of people either come down here as the vacation they have been saving for from the north or are unable to live here full-time even if they wanted to. I am lucky in that my paternal aunt and parents bought our house here decades ago, we would not be able to afford a similar property here if we had to buy today. What is really cool, in retrospect, is that you can definitely see the license plates of different US states [and I swear I've even seen an Ontario, Canada license plate] during the right season and in the right places around town. The Florida Gulf Coast in general have some great towns with nature that is never too far away: a string of pearls. Sarasota is a midpoint of sorts. I usually am more familiar with going up north to Tampa and St. Petersburg more frequently, North Port and Venice to the south are very much different, [as are the more southern parts of Florida, even further south than Venice.] There is a vibrancy and beauty to where I live this gratitude journal has helped me appreciate, to truly experience Florida is to spend hours driving through it. I have never been to Miami or Key West even though I live in the same state, and have only been to Daytona Beach or Saint Augustine [on the East Coast of Florida] only once, respectively. Northern Florida is different too, a deceptively long journey to reach the border with Georgia.
The geography of where I live does benefit me. As a person with disabilities, specifically, perhaps as Florida was developed later in American history (a fascinating history in itself), many of the buildings are newer and more compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. I informally compare this to New England, where are my family was originally from, where many of the attraction’s our historical and not guaranteed to comply with the ADA. As Florida initially was popular state for northern retirees, I know there is an entire industrial ecosystem of healthcare and mobility products for people with disabilities. As for the climate, I do not have to navigate my wheelchair through snow, and compared to my other experiences traveling in northwestern North Carolina, Florida is relatively traversable with only a few isolated exceptions. Even some watercraft (pontoon boats, in a makeshift fashion) and public docks can accommodate a manual wheelchair to go on the water.
Isabella
- November 16, 2023
Today in my literature class, we had a really great discussion about the novel we just read. Everyone had so many interesting insights and perspectives, it was a truly enriching conversation.
This benefited me because it reminded me that I am super grateful to be able to continue my education in the field I love surrounded by other extremely passionate and inspiring people.
Claudine
- November 16, 2023
I took a Mindfulness workshop over the course of 3 days.
It sparked my interest in meditation again and forced me to see the lack of self-care I currently have.
Seth
- November 16, 2023
As something connected to yesterday's entry, I am grateful for the opportunities that I had to travel to different places throughout my life. I've gone to places like Orlando, Daytona Beach, St. Louis, New Orleans, Rhode Island and New York City, West Jefferson in North Carolina, and Japan. My trip to Japan specifically in the Summer of 2017 as part of a tour group is something that I think that I will remember the rest of my life, in that I am grateful for the people that made it happen and the opportunity to visit Tokyo, Kyoto and Hikone specifically. In the context of yesterday’s entry, I am grateful for my tour director and her husband, as both of them help to make my trip possible in terms of my accessibility concerns. (So, I am grateful for both the opportunity to travel and for the people who I have traveled with, both the something and someone.)
Travel does benefit me, I think. I developed a love for geography when I was younger, and still love learning about the history and cultures of the places I visit. Japan specifically was the trip of a lifetime for me, I had always wanted to go as a childhood dream of mine, and when I met my tour director by chance about a year before in 2016, her upcoming trip to Japan came up when I met her. I am very glad that my parents and I actually believed her when she said that she would take care of even the wheelchair accessible tour bus and that her husband would help my mother with transfers. (I know almost for certain that she under no obligation by the tour to provide such accommodations, a kindness and generosity that went above and beyond.) Though my tour director told me that some of the countries that she had previously visited not very accessible, I do believe that such a conversation of accessibility on a global scale is still a conversation worth having. Not just in developed nations such as the United States and Japan, though in the context on Japan I am grateful for the hospitality of the people I met there. I say this very much cognizant in retrospect of Japan's desire to emulate the West (beginning in the Meiji era) and the controversy of disability rights in the very Western countries it has emulated.
evelin
- November 16, 2023
Completei o estágio de PDI nas escolas e foi um último dia muito agradável com as crianças.
Me deixou feliz brincar e terminar essa fase da faculdade.
Ginger
- November 15, 2023
A patient thanked me for what i do as a nurse.
Grateful, respectful
evelin
- November 15, 2023
Minha amiga me convidou para ir assistir um filme que eu queria muito ver e teria que ir sozinha, e me chamou mesmo nós não sendo próximas.
Me senti querida.
evelin
- November 15, 2023
Consegui uma boia para brincar na piscina da Famerp.
Diversão.
Carolyn
- November 15, 2023
My friend checked in with me about my first Nar-Anon mtg.
I felt remembered. I know my friend doesn’t understand the situation but she cares about me.