November Is…
Happy November! I wrote those two words before I had a fully-formed idea for writing this particular piece, as this sentiment is becoming my trademark for November writing. I thought a little bit about why November is happy and what I might share. The choices are as bountiful as a Thanksgiving feast—many of us don’t have to rack our brains too much to find a reason for November to be happy. We’re generally feeling pretty festive and thankful at this time of year and that often ties into happiness.
Naturally, my first response was to go with what I know. November is the Month of the Military Family (definitely a happy thing to celebrate in our crowd!), and it’s “No-Shave November,” making all the hairy beasts among us happy to drop our razors for a bit. November includes the day my now-husband proposed to me, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, and one of my best friend’s birthdays. These are the happies that I know in November.
But did you know that November is also:
- Banana Pudding Lovers Month?
- National Fun with Fondue Month?
- National Novel Writing Month?
- National Peanut Butter Month?
- National Pepper Month?
- National Epilepsy Awareness Month?
- National Healthy Skin Month?
- National Diabetes Month?
And…believe it or not, there are plenty more things November is. You can find the whole list over at nationaltoday.com.
Personally, I find the most intriguing of all of these “November is” months to be those honoring Peanut Butter, Fun with Fondue, and Novel Writing. I won’t be writing you a novel today, and I have no idea if I have a novel in me, waiting to leak out onto a page someday, but I’m definitely going to enjoy some peanut butter, dream about fondue, and look further into celebrating these things during November.
Whichever November you are celebrating, I do wish it is a happy one for you. That is the thing about gratitude. It really doesn’t matter if you are grateful for peanut butter, a special anniversary, or support with a medical condition you might have (like epilepsy or diabetes). Being grateful is a celebration in itself, I find. And celebrations are usually pretty happy by definition.
I’ve written about gratitude before and tried different approaches to focusing on it, but what I wish for you this November is that you might find celebrations in gratitude, too.
For me, I am currently trying to stretch my thankfulness to everyday. I’m keeping a list as opposed to a full journal, but I’m so glad to celebrate something (or multiple things) to write in my notebook every day. Most often, I wind up choosing very small things that make me smile, and my list has an overall theme of things I am grateful for while working at my new job. Many items are tied to actual events at work or interactions with co-workers, but sometimes, I choose things that I just wouldn’t have encountered or noticed if I wasn’t in a certain place or witnessing a certain thing just because it’s part of the hours of my work day. And all of these little “work-day” things to be grateful for are happy, but I also find thinking about these parts of my day generally makes the rest of my day better, too. The gratefulness and happiness flow over into the hours outside of when I am actively looking for things to jot down. So, for that, I am again…
(wait for it…)
Grateful!
I’d love to challenge you to choose a portion of your life (work, family, spirituality, health, etc.) to start a focused gratitude list. You can use a notebook, a jar that you add notes to as you collect them, or even a calendar. Try it for a week, a month, or whatever deadline you choose. See if your focused gratitude spills over into other parts of your life, too. See if it spreads a little happiness throughout your days.
And of course, share your success! I highly doubt you’d care much about the specific items on my little list, but I am sharing that I am keeping a list with you because I believe that maybe this will inspire you to get started finding your gratitude and then you’ll be so happy, that you’ll want to share, as well.
Maybe we can collectively make a gratitude ripple effect, and our communities will be better off than how we personally encountered them. So, Happy November! Thanks for reading and being a part of the Army Wife Network community. (You’re being entered into my little gratitude list.)
