Just over a week ago I posted Part One of my 365 Grateful Project – a challenge which saw me aiming to find one thing every day for a whole year, that I was grateful for.
As the year wore on, I found it increasingly difficult to find something completely different from each previous day. I also found it hard to maintain a photographic record of the things I did find, either because I didn’t get chance to capture a moment or a person or an event, or I merely just forgot.
The next hundred or so days may not therefore, portray things that I was grateful for, and maybe just show and document significant things that happened in my life throughout 2014; like a personal journal, so to speak.
So here goes, from Day 124 (or May 4th 2014), I present the second installment of my 365 Grateful:
Day 124) Amelia and Sarah – for being great friends and being the root of many a good night out.
Day 125) Bike rides and spending time with my little brother.
Day 126) Preston – its history. My town.
Day 127) A blank day – precisely what I was referring to earlier when I said some days I struggled to find anything I was grateful for apart from being alive.
Day 128) A chance meeting with the actor, Will Mellor while at work.
Day 129) My good friend Reuben and his 30th Birthday.
Day 130) Running in the rain – no pain, no gain.
Day 131) My football team – Man City win the Premier League! Hoorah!
Day 132) New line of work, as a driver at a private hospital in Preston.
Day 133) Completing a 10km run in a personal best time of 53:49.
Day 134) Grateful not for losing work, but having the opportunity to work somewhere, if only for a short time, enabling me to move on to seek employment elsewhere.
Day 135) Today was sombre, as I was grateful to have known the lovely woman, Olive Dixon, may she rest in peace.
Day 136) Freshly cut grass on Haslam Park.
Day 137) Sunshine at the Conti Beer Festival and a year since I came back from China.
Day 138) My family for coming to support me during the Manchester 10km Run
Day 139) My mother.
Day 140) Being able to drive and having an HGV licence.
Day 141) An hour to myself to do sweet FA.
Day 142) My brother and his girlfriend for talking sense to me.
Day 143) Family and friends through good times and bad.
Day 144) Laughing so hard with friends, dancing till dawn and enjoying life.
Day 145) More part-time emplyment.
Day 146) A nice little run with my brother – quality time.
Day 147) My bike 🙂
Day 148) Amazing scenery right on my doorstep – the view driving over the hills near Parbold, Lancs.
Day 149) Grateful for any form of employment – some people can’t find work so for this, I remain humble.
Day 150) My mother. Again.
Day 151) Sunbathing weather. In England!
Day 152) Alex and Lauren – grateful for their friendships.
Day 153) Offered a permanent contract at one of my jobs. Happy.
Day 154) The smell of the outdoors.
Day 155) The opportunity to be involved in a lottery funded project about WWI called Pals For Life.
Day 156) The time to start my blog 🙂 (and here I still am).
Day 157) Sunshine to lift the mood.
Day 158) Friends and festivals.
Day 159) Sunshine at festivals as opposed to rain.
Day 160) Hangover cures in the form of a Subway Footlong!
Day 161) Extra shifts at work.
Day 162) Bikes rides.
Day 163) Early nights.
Day 164) Liverpool – on my doorstep.
Day 165) My Belgian friends – Pieter and Peter.
Day 166) My Dad – Father’s Day.
Day 167) The rolling hills of East Lancs – so pretty.
Day 168) Facebook and its ability to reconnect people – getting in touch with old friends.
Day 169) Claire and baby Jack.
Day 170) A platform for my writing.
Day 171) The summer solstice morning.
Day 172) Banoffee pie. Mmmmmm.
Day 173) Friends who make me dinner – Dave.
Day 174) Somewhere to come home to – a loving family.
Day 175) My education.
Day 176) Dry nights and early evening walks.
Day 177) Pay Day!
Day 178) Claire.
Day 179) Newground open day – the chance to work with kids.
Day 180) Preston. Again.
Day 181) Baking.
Day 182) Fresh air.
Day 183) Running at dusk and seeing the sky change magnificent shades of red.
Day 184) Pitching tents in the rain – where else would you be able to do this but in England?
Day 185) Glastonburrows!
Day 186) The dating game.
Day 187) Newground and Forest School.
Day 188) Massages. Relaxing.
Day 189) Being asked to be Godmother to my friend’s gorgeous little girl.
Day 190) Kendal Calling Ticket!
Day 191) A quiet night in.
Day 192) My Uncle Wayne.
Day 193) Lazy days.
Day 194) Pals For Life production.
Day 195) Acting again.
Day 196) My brothers.
Day 197)Scorching sunshine. Proper summer.
Day 198) Reviewing gigs – Skinny Wrist Gumbo.
Day 199) Stacey and Siobhan.
Day 200) Christenings.
Day 201) Finding my gig reveiw had made it onto the local newspaper’s website.
Day 202) Life.
Day 203) St Walburg’s Church – so pretty and understated.
Day 204) Being able to self focus and self motivate.
Day 205) Alone time.
Day 206) Vintage fairs and friends and family.
Day 207) My Dad and Lyn.
Day 208) Extra money from extra shifts at work.
Day 209) Running. The ability to run. My health.
Day 210) Studying – expanding my mind.
Day 211) Power naps.
Day 212) Kendal Calling.
Day 213) Festivals in the rain – typically British.
Day 214) Meeting total strangers.
Day 215) Days in bed.
Day 216) Claire and Jack. Again.
Day 217) Lie-ins.
Day 218) Sport.
Day 219) Early nights.
Day 220) Mad Men on box set!
Day 221) Mate dates.
Day 222) Juicing. Cleansing. Detoxing.
Day 223) Swimming.
Day 224) Real food.
Day 225) My birthday – great family and friends.
Day 226) RK Sweets and Friday night take aways with friends.
Day 227) Nights out.
Day 228) Family meals.
Day 229) Work.
Day 230) 10km run.
Day 231) Beating a personal best at running.
Day 232) Days with no exercise – rest the limbs and the muscles.
Day 233) Nights in with the family.
Day 234) Curry night with Dad.
Day 235) Manchester!
Day 236) Ice Bucket Challenge – all for a good cause.
Day 237) Left blank
Day 238) Left blank
Day 239) Corrie Tour and a quality family day out.
Day 240) Rejoining the local gym.
Day 241) My mother’s hen do!
Day 242) Dinner with an old friend.
Day 243) Lunch with an old friend.
Day 244) Lunch with Claire.
Day 245) Warmer weather.
Day 246) Sunsets on drives back from Manchester. Beautiful.
Day 247) Health and happiness.
Day 248) Glossop to see my good friend Lauren.
Even though the majority of the things I have been grateful for in the second third of 2014 appear and seem repetitive and boring, I did notice a pattern starting to emerge. I realised that what I was most thankful for and most appreciative of were not material things or things that held any monetary value, but they were things you can’t ever put a price on: family, friends, health and the world around you.
The final third of 2014 will mostly be focused on my time in Australia and what I did in those first three months. As it’s only mid-way through December now, I guess you’ll just have to wait to find out what I’ve been grateful for since embarking on my adventure, and whether or not a conclusive pattern can be established regarding what I’ve been grateful for in 2014; or whether the real beauty of completing a task like this is being shown how to open your mind and heart to the simplistic things that surround you and appreciate the things that are right under your nose.
Chasing Amy-Lou 