Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve given some thought to how New Years came and went for me without even a thought of a New Years resolution. Surely, if ever there was a time to force myself to be disciplined about a personal goal, it was the start of this year. Fortunately, my birthday also falls in the first days of the year and my 43rd birthday yesterday offered me another opportunity to challenge myself with a new, year-long project of self-betterment. As a kind of meditation, I will write a short (maybe sometimes long?) gratitude each day. I will hold myself accountable by not only writing these gratitudes into a personal journal but (quietly) publishing them to my personal website.
Without further ado, the first of my gratitudes: family, obviously.
As I enter my 43rd year, I am unemployed, unfocused, depressed. What is much different than other times in my life when I have faced similar challenges? My family, without whose love I would be completely lost. My family, who give me purpose and energy and hugs. My family, who were more excited about celebrating my birthday than I have ever been about my own or anyone else’s birthday. My family, whose energy will sustain me through these dark days. My family, to whom I am a responsible husband and father. My family, who I in turn support with love.
I’m sure that family will continue to be a focus of gratitude throughout the year. For this reason, I really need to fix something that has been bothering me for almost 3 years now. At some point when it was just Michelle, Matteo, and me, I used System Preferences to create a keyboard shortcut that would automatically convert the word “family” to the emoji “👪”. In the absence of an emoji that represents a 👪 of 5, I have now finally retired this shortcut. ✅