Little Thanks
Day 7. One entire week. Of Journaling. Of sobriety. Of both. However you are showing up today, I am so proud of you for showing up.
Today's prompt is:
"What can you thank yourself for? Or if it's easier, think of it this way - what are you proud of yourself for?"
As we've talked about, this is not meant to be a book report. This is just a way to learn about yourself. No matter what you feel like responding to that question, if you are reading this then you have something to be proud of you. You showed today. Thank yourself for that.
If the longest you've gone sober is 3 days and you're proud of that - write that. Or maybe like you me, you moved your body once this week for 10 minutes (which was 10 minutes more than last week!), I'm proud of you. If you said no to your friend for the first time ever in order to prioritize yourself, I'm proud of you. If no one has told you this week, this month, or this year - I'm proud of you.
So often we get so caught up in comparing our lives with others that we forget to thank ourselves for showing up for ours. Our days get lost in the trivial tasks we do to keep our lives running and sometimes we get too busy to remember to thank ourselves.
If I'm being honest, I don't feel like writing right now. I don't feel particularly inspiring or like I have some great words to share but I think that's the entire point. I am asking you guys to show up for yourselves and I am doing that too.
There was a time in my life where this is about where I would have quit. I used to be really great at changing my life for about a week at at time and then giving up. But something changed in 2021. My sobriety showed me just how powerful I could be if I just kept going.
I made such constant reminders to thank myself for my choices. Because the choices from yesterday were the ones that were saving me today. Regularly thanking my past self would help me want to do things for my future self. I broke my cycle of self loathing with self gratitude.
That's what showing up for yourself looks like. It means saying (yes, out loud if you have to) "thank you" to yourself for what you're doing. Some people call this re-parenting and I think it can be such a helpful strategy to healing work. Do the parenting that you wish someone could do for you. Start small. Plan for coffee in the morning by pre-brewing it, lay out your clothes the night before, write yourself notes and leave them on the mirror.
And if this sounds cheesy to you - think of what you would just love to have someone do for you and then do it for yourself. Things that you would genuinely appreciate to wake up to.
For me, it's dishes and coffee. I always go to bed with the dishes done and coffee set to brew in the morning. It's not super fancy but I love smelling that coffee in the morning and I say thank you to myself every time. And just like that, I love and trust my self a little more so maybe next time I can do more.
Learning to be grateful to yourself isn't something you have to be extra about. It can be small gestures of gratitude and small gestures of love for yourself. Like the ones I mentioned but you can also get even more creative. Write yourself letters or emails and send them later. Surprise yourself with a package here and there. The most important part about this practice is thanking ourselves.
Remembering that returning to gratitude for ourselves and how far we've come is how we keep going. We don't need to hold shame over our heads for when we make mistakes but simply keep thanking ourselves for showing up.
Thank YOU for showing up for an entire week. I am so excited for this month.