love, happiness, and pedicures
into the unKNOOOOOOOOOO- oh hi, didn’t see you there.
Like many people, I’ve been thinking about gratitude this week.
Business owners read a LOT of personal development books and by far the #1 lesson out there is PRACTICE GRATITUDE! Personally, I get in and out of the habit. Of course there are times when I storm around feeling complainy and victimized by everything. Yet there was one time I was in a super great mood and I swear, I felt gratitude toward my garbage. Carrie Goldberg will vouch for this. I was taking out the garbage, and I was thinking happy thoughts like “this garbage represents a life of plenty! everything in here is something my family consumed and enjoyed! how lucky we are to have all of this garbage because it means we ate food and opened toys and……”
In all seriousness, the privilege of having a job that is in perfect alignment with my life’s mission is better than I could ever have imagined. It’s hard to believe I get to go to work every day and my only job is to make my clients’ lives better by fighting injustice. (*) I get to work alongside a team that cares about our clients first and foremost – an amazing team of smart, compassionate, hilarious folks that I feel lucky to have met, let alone direct their talents towards my cause.
But actually, that’s not what I want to talk about today.
This morning, I was reading an article by Don Miguel Ruiz about gratitude. His point was that when we’re grateful for something, the best way to be thankful is to show our appreciation. When somebody cooks you a meal, the best thing to do is to enjoy the meal. When somebody gives you a present – enjoy the present! And the best way to be grateful for life is to live a full, robust, joyful life of purpose.
My two girls are, of course, the absolute center of my universe. Literally everything about them delights me. I picture a heat map of love in my life and it has two blazing, blinding loci. (**) I could listen to Sadia playing with her my little ponies, or watch Zohra practicing her dance moves in the mirror, for the rest of my life. They’re even cute when they’re angry because they’re so smart and sassy that you can only admire their moxie! They are just pure, endless joy and love and creativity.
It can be hard to stay focused on what’s important in life, when we have so many competing responsibilities. I hope you take a minute, with me, to zoom out for a minute. What really matters?
When we fight caregiver discrimination in the workplace, we are fighting to love freely. We’re fighting to say, I am important, and my family is important, and love is important. I’m smart, and I’m a mom, and those aren’t two different things. I’m a person and I am here on this earth to make the world a better place through my profession but I’m also here on this earth to love.
This Thanksgiving, I wish you happiness, love, and the courage to be true to your aims. I wish you a silly and hilarious pedicure, or whatever form love takes in your life. And lastly, I wish you a weirdly emotional moment when taking out the garbage.
With gratitude,
Susan
P.S. My team all got together and shared what they are thankful for this year. I swear, I did not pay them extra to say nice things about me. Write back and tell me what YOU are thankful for this year. We can all inspire each other.
(*) OK well not my only job. As every business owner knows we actually have like 20 jobs.
(**) There are three actually. but I don’t want to rave about my husband b/c that seems a little weird and gross