HBD TO ME: 24 THINGS I’M GRATEFUL FOR

If you babes, haven’t guessed by the title — I’ll give you babes a flat out hint!

It’s my birthday. I’m turning 24 today and it feels like just yesterday, I was turning 16!

Man does time fly.

Birthdays have always been a big deal to me for many reasons:

1) It’s a day to thank God for allowing you to see another circle around the sun,

2) Another opportunity is presented that allows another chance to get things right,

3) You’re reminded by those who care for you, just how much they truly care…

It’s just a wonderful day to celebrate your renewed existence. So it struck me as odd that weeks leading up to my birthday this year, I felt none of that.

I wasn’t excited or looking forward to it and it made me sad. I couldn’t help but wonder if I had reached that stage in my life where I had outgrown my birthday or the excitement that always accompanied such a meaningful day.

I pondered those thoughts silently before finally vocalizing them to a friend. Through that conversation, I was able to pinpoint exactly what had my enthusiasm for my special day abandoning me in waves.

I felt like I hadn’t elevated.

In last year’s birthday post, I prayed for elevation. I’d hoped that this year would bring so much growth, accomplishments, and overall change — and for a while I felt like none of that had occurred.

I was so in my head about where I thought I aught to be that I didn’t stop and get thankful for where I am.

After much soul searching and necessary advice, I was able to renew my enthusiasm about seeing another year of life. With gratitude about where I am + excitement about where I’m headed in God’s timing, of course. In doing so I was able to realize that I ha elevated. Not specifically in the ways I thought I aught to, but the ways in which God knew I needed to.

With that being said, I figured what better way to express my gratitude for 24 years of life than to put the pencil to the pad (or in this care my fingers to the keyboard), AND list 24 things I’m grateful for in this 24th year of life.

Here goes nothing.

1. My parents/family. There would be no me without the parents who raised me to be the person that I am today. I am so grateful that God made me in the image of two people who are hardworking, driven, assertive, and intelligent. Everything I am is because of the home I group up in, the parents that raised me, and the siblings that push me in the best way.
2. My experiences. As much as some of my experiences in my 24 years of life have broken me, they have made me unbreakable in the grander scheme of things.
3. My health. I recently had a health scare to which I’m not all the way out of the woods yet, but still I’m grateful. For my body, my mind, and my heart for staying as strong as it has all these years and never forsaking me.
4. My friends. Man oh man, do the people I call my friends mean a lot to me. I don’t use that word lightly and to know that I have people in my life that would stand for me through life’s greatest rewards/potential hardships… it means everything to me.
5. My blog. I feel so blessed to have a forum where I can be open about who I am, what I stand for, and the things that make me… me. You guys have no idea how much it means to me to have you all check out the blog, engage with me, and truly enjoy my content. That feeling is indescribable and to know that I get to feel that as much or as little as I want… priceless.
6.  Safety. Is being grateful for safety a weird thing to be grateful for? I don’t think so. In the world we live in today, where many can’t even go out for a simple drink with friends, without having the notion that danger may be possibly lurking… Boy am I grateful for safety, of my own and those that I love.
7. My love for reading. I honestly don’t know who I would have become if I didn’t love to read as much as I do. I could never begin to explain how much reading means to me,but I tried in a recent poetry piece on the blog. Have a look if you haven’t already, here.
8. Pain. There’s something so valuable to be learned when you go through pain. It’s always been my most painful, but necessary teacher. So yes. I’m grateful to pain for keeping my back straight and my sense of awareness sharp.
9. The weekends. Boy do I love a good weekend, even if I don’t get to sit on my ass the whole time. There’s something to be said about the weekend that makes the hell of a weekday, so worth struggling through.
10. Food. I am so grateful for food in my life. Especially in a time around the world where food isn’t guaranteed for many and my fifth meal of the day may be someone’s first — not by choice, but by circumstance.
11. My godchildren. Omg I love them so much — Bebe and Bubba (not their actual names lol), I love you guys so much and will forever be grateful that your parents chose me to be your person.
12. Memories. Who would we be if we couldn’t remember the good times or even the bad?Probably a bunch of people living unsatisfied lives making mistake after mistake without ever truly learning from any of them.
13. Ability to travel. Enough said.
14. Netflix. Y’all am I grateful for good ole’ Netflix. What would my weekends with a self implemented break from studying be if I didn’t have good ole’ Netflix. S/o the creators of Netflix and my brother for making my subscription possible.
15. Free open access to knowledge. As free as knowledge should be, it isn’t always in many places.
16. My brain. I am so grateful for my brain that keeps me pushing, has been put to the ultimate test with this mind of mind and yet continues to withstand it all. All while continuing to help me excel in this thing called life.
17. Shelter. I am so blessed to have a place I can reside in that I call home where I feel safe, protected, and secure. So many people don’t have that simple luxury in life, so for me to have it. How could I not be grateful?
18. Holidays. Another enough said one. Am I right or am I right babe lol?
19. Laughter. If you know me, you know that I’m pretty much always laughing or finding humor in something or someone. I am so grateful for laughter because time and time again it has proven itself to be the perfect healing agent in the face of any ailment.
20. Periods of peace. I love my quiet moments where I can bask in my thoughts without interruption. If I didn’t have them, for lack of better words — I’d go bat shit crazy.
21. Musssssssic. There’s something about music that has the ability to take you back in instant. To a time, a feeling, a moment — I’m so grateful for music’s ability to do that because I never want to forget the moments brought back to me only be the sound of a chorus coming together.
22. Love. I’m grateful for the love I have, have yet to receive, and have lost.
23. Birthdays. I am grateful for birthdays because they allow you the opportunity to reflect, improve, live better, and do better. Thank you God for another birthday.
24. Gratefulness. What would this world be if we didn’t have the ability to remember to be grateful?

Rock with me on this new circle around the Sun as I celebrate the ways in which I will grow and elevate.

To Chapter 24 being so kick ass my gratitude list can’t take it,

Thelms