“Gratitude turns what we have into enough.” – Anonymous.
I was pondering if being grateful was “enough” lately. It’s easy to say we are grateful for certain things… a hot drink… a quiet moment… maybe a family that we were told we were at odds to have.
I have a daily burden (if you will) of being grateful for my life.
On this day, four years ago, I shared that I had overcome Postpartum or Peripartum Cardiomyopathy (often called PPCM or pregnancy induced heart failure)!
When my youngest biological son was born, I had a series of things happen, that led to me being in the ICU, in a medically induced coma, on a ventilator. While my son, at 29 weeks gestation, waited on me for a week, down the hall in the NICU.
A team of doctors gave me half answers and a ton of prescriptions, but we didn’t really know what happened, beyond my heart had started failing. It was bad enough they told my husband to be prepared I might not ever wake up. I did… and was told I would likely need an ICD (implanted defibrillator) or possibly a heart transplant. Anyone who knows me can likely laugh, because my response in my head was “Yeah, we’ll see about that!”
About 5 months later I was declared officially recovered, and was able to stop most medications, (the photo above) but I took it further, and after years of research, hiring a personal health coach, changes in diet and mindset and how I view and handle stress, I’ve actually finally reached what I considered FULLY recovered because my heart functions normal, without any medications. My lab work was actually so good the doctor said I was healthier than he is!
So there are days where I wake up and think “I should really be more grateful…. Especially since anywhere is better than a coma.” But living in a state of constant gratitude isn’t realistic. Our focus is divided. We have work to do, children to raise, many things each day that require our attention.
What we can do is make sure we intentionally include being grateful daily or weekly as a form of reflection. I actually have a reminder on my phone to pay attention to things I am grateful are in my life. Such as you, the readers of my musings!
I want to leave you with a quote that has helped me this week as I refocused on making sure some form of being grateful is in my life-
”Gratitude doesn’t change the scenery. It merely washes clean the glass you look through so you can clearly see the colors.” - Richelle E Goodrich
May you see the colors of your life a little more richly this week. ~Naomi
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