Keeping a daily gratitude journal is one of the cheapest, easiest, and most well-documented ways of improving your overall happiness and mental well-being. (Like most people who know this fact, I don’t keep a daily gratitude journal.)
I don’t keep a daily gratitude journal, but when I was young my family did keep a yearly gratitude journal: every Thanksgiving, we’d take some time together to volunteer things we were grateful for and write them down. Sometimes they were things specific to the past year, sometimes they were more perennial. Sometimes they were serious, conventional things–friends, family, health, and so on–other times they were small, lighthearted, or even silly. (I recall one year saying I was thankful for “God making the Big Bang that created the universe that created the Milky Way that created Earth that created humans so they could invent the Super Nintendo so I could play videogames.” I think I was about nine?) As holiday traditions go it was pretty subdued, but it was still one of my favorites. Even just reading through what we’d written in past years never failed to put a smile on my face.
I don’t keep a daily gratitude journal, but I do have a blog! So this year, I’ve decided to revise an old tradition and share with you some of the things I’m thankful for–large and small, silly and serious. In no particular order:
- The little foldable keyboard I’m using right now to type this post on my phone.
- My close family–those I’ve chosen through friendship and marriage, as well as those I’ve been gifted by chance.
- In particular, my father. I’m writing a song for you, dad. I can’t wait for it to be finished so you can hear it.
- Having a stable job I don’t hate with a good boss who doesn’t hate me.
- The three best gifts I’ve ever bought for myself: my ErgoDox EZ bespoke mechanical keyboard, my Kensington Expert trackball mouse, and my turquoise Nintendo Switch Lite. (Yes, I’m still in love with videogames.)
- Bandcamp!
- Fulfilling my childhood dream of living in a mobile house (although my house doesn’t have an elevator or big-screen TV like I wanted–oh well).
- Finally diagnosing and treating my ADD.
- Getting my heart broken and having no regrets.
- Being converted to toe socks and minimalist shoes (regular sneakers look way more absurd to me than shoes with toes, now).
- My spouse’s sorcerous powers of cookery.
- My favorite (nonfiction) writers: Autumn Christian, Eliezer Yudkowsky, Paul Graham, Tevis Thompson, and Scott Alexander.
- Good porn.1
- Costco!
- My new favorite (nonfiction) writer, Chris Ferdinandi.
- Discovering that Stephanie Myer wrote and published a gender-swapped version of Twilight to prove a point, reading it, and finding it works at least as well as the original. #TeamEdythe
- Restarting my blog!
- Making an effort to get back in touch with some friends I’ve been missing.
- Seeing my writing improve enough to produce something I’m truly proud of (and which didn’t take me years or decades to finish).
And of course, I’m thankful for you, my wonderful readers. It’s hard to overstate how rewarding it’s been having an audience, even a small one. Knowing that someone other than my mom is actually reading and enjoying my writing (love you, mom) has been not only motivational, but also wonderful soul food. As always, I love you, and I hope your week finishes with a special treat and some unexpected good news. Joy and Health to you all!
In Search of Secrets 
