We've all had those days...when nothing just seems to be going right and you feel a sense of lostness. Last March, I was having a particularly rough day at my former job. You know, one of those days where the projects keep coming and you’re drowning in a sea of priorities, unsure how it’s humanly possible to swim to shore. Yeah, one of those days...
With my back to the chair, I felt the combined emotions of rage and fear building inside of me. My face became hot, and my jaw tightened. I knew I needed to focus and push through for a few hours, but I was having trouble doing so. Suddenly, I got a message from a coworker I didn't talk to very often. I braced myself, assuming that this would be yet another "urgent" request. Instead, it read "Hey Brina, i see how heavy your workload is, I wanted to reach out to you and offer my utmost love and support.
I let out a breath. then smiled. The fact that my colleague reached out brightened my attitude even though she couldn't lessen my burden, Her letter was quite lovely and unexpected. Throughout that week, I kept coming back to her message, and every time I did, I felt reassured by her support.
Throughout last year, I received similar words of encouragement and praise. Some were about work, others were writing-related, and a few were simply heartfelt messages of appreciation. Looking back, these little pieces of love — some big, some small—hhave always been there. But I didn’t start appreciating them until last year, a particularly difficult one. I decided to keep these messages somewhere I could regularly turn to. A little folder where they could all live!
A kindness journal if you will!
It’s easy to get caught up in what’s wrong or the next problem we have to solve or even feel like our efforts aren’t amounting to anything. But it’s important to remember how much is already going well — how much we’re appreciated just as we are.