Thankful in 2009

As I begin, my mind runs wild with ideas as to what I should or shouldn't include. I think I'll start by saying that while some things were bittersweet at the time, in the long run I feel they were for the best. Other things were exciting as I tackled new challenges, and others well they have been frustratingly slow to reach. The things I'm thankful for may seem like little things o some but for me they seemed pretty huge at the time. Whatever the feelings were for each event or situation, I'm grateful to have reached the point I'm at with each of the following things.

For starters, I was able to get out of an unhealthy relationship though it got rocky towards the end, things are much better now, more peaceful I guess is one way of putting it. I didn't realize how much my life seemed to evolve around the person and their needs until I was out of the relationships, so the first thing which is the bittersweet thing, is that I am thankful to be moving from an unhealthy relationship into a situation that offers me the opportunity to have more balance in my life and less chaos.

Next, I am thankful that I was able to afford a new couch, my loveseat that got replaced by the new couch, was well used, and very uncomfortable. My new couch offered some entertainment value when I told people I was buying a couch I had to assemble, folks gave me a lot of strange responses ranging from "you're kidding right?" to "Why would you want to assemble your own couch?" aside from the fact that it was less expensive to buy an unassembled couch, I also enjoy assembling furniture like books cases, dressers, you know all those things that are pre-cut, pre-drilled, and all you generally need is a hammer, and either a manual or power screwdriver depending on your personal preference and what materials the item is made from. I'm a little odd that way I like figuring things out and seeing how things go together but since I really can't have a workshop where I live I settle for the occasional opportunity to assemble a piece of furniture.

I'm also thankful for the new computer I got to replace my old one. it was new in 2001 and was getting to a point where it didn't matter what I did for some weird reason, it would slow down to a crawl where I could actually type faster than the text would appear on the screen not just a letter difference, but entire words and sometimes sentences would be punched in and I would have to wait for it to catch up to me. Mind you I'm not the most efficient typist in the world, but I'm fast enough to impress a few people like my Mom who types slower than me, was getting frustrated when she would come over to check her email and she would have to wait for the text to appear on the screen. My Mom is generally a very patient person so if it bothered her, I know it was bad. So, I no longer have to risk losing my train of thought because I had to wait for my computer to catch up to where I was at one that same theme, I discovered that Windows 7 wasn't too scary to upgrade to. While there are no Win7 drivers for my printer, I did find that the Vista drivers worked great. I never saw Vista so to be honest I don't know anything about it other then I heard lots of complaints about it, so in a sense I'm thankful to have missed the trials of Vista.

So, armed with a new couch, a new PC, and having less chaos permeating every aspect of my life, I think the only thing I have left to be thankful for are the standard things often heard when people are asked what they are thankful for, my family, friends, health, dog, and my ability to find a way to entertain people as I fumble through life.

I have some goals for next year that include increasing my writing, decreasing my clutter (not just what accumulates on flat surfaces in my home, but also the internal clutter I contend with regularly), to continue my small role as a blogger trying to encourage positive change in my state and local mental health system, and last but by far not least work on increasing my exercise and decreasing my pop. Kind of an odd mix of goals but they are things I've wanted to do.

So, while you are sitting around your table or the table of a friend or family member, even if you spend the holiday on the giving or receiving side of the soup kitchen, always remember that even the little things can be huge despite what others may thinks and who knows maybe you'll be able to use your excitement about one of those little things to brighten someone else's day.