November is a month I really loathe, it’s dark, cold, often rainy and there are some not so nice anniversaries and it’s when I really struggle as I get seasonally affected. So inspired by Krissie, I’ve spent several Novembers remembering to be thankful, I think it’s a good practice, it’s why I also have the Reasons to be Cheerful posts this year too. Finding the good in your life is a muscle, you only get good if you practice…

My plan is to put up a weekly Thankful post on Saturdays. Fair warning, I’ll be on the sofa for most of November so they might be very boring, they might just be a list, they might be long essays about one of the things I’m thankful about. I don’t know. The marvellous thing about this being my space is that I can do what I like and as I said last year..

…the point of this is to help me quiet the negative noise that my brain defaults to and to shine a light of the good parts of my life that are harder for me to see but are still exactly where I left them…

So on the last day of October, I’m going to I’m going to list everything I’ve been grateful for this week..

1. The NHS.
2. Painkillers.
3. My mother and that she loves me enough to come over and hoover my floor and do laundry.
4. That I have a job secure enough that I can be off work for six weeks.
5. Flowers from work.
6. Friends who come over and bring lunch and small children.
7. Friends who come over and bring flowers.
8. Food.
9. Food that is easy to cook.
10. Jelly babies.
11. My brother volunteering to drive me to hospital next week.
12. That my not being able to walk or stand for longer than five minutes is temporary.
13. Budgets and knowing how to make one
14. Phones, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter so I feel I’m in touch with people even when I’ve only seen 4 people, 5 if you include the person who delivered the flowers.
15. Hummus because it doesn’t need to be cooked.
16. That I made soup before I had the osteotomy.
17. My bed.
18. Woolly jumpers.
19. That the elections in Cote d’Ivoire happened and there was no violence.
20. Knitting.
21. Books.
22. The nephews.
23. The BBC in general and Radio 4 in particular.

What were you thankful for this week?