This year, I'm thankful for...

It feels like it's all a bit doom and gloom at the moment. Pair that with the fact that it pretty much gets dark at 2pm and we're getting nothing but bad news on the coronavirus front, and it would be easy to feel like a negative nelly. Well, since today is Thanksgiving in America, I thought I would reflect on all the things that I'm thankful for. Because I reckon we could all do with a little positive thinking right now!

I'm thankful for my family and friends

After a year like this one, I think all of us are more appreciative than ever for the people around us. Strip back the holidays, the fun days out, the restaurants and the glamour and you find the things that are really important; your friends and family. I don't like to brag, but I have to say that mine in particular, are pretty amazing. And so naturally, I'm feeling very thankful for them today (and always).

I'm thankful for rediscovering my mojo

This one is hard to explain, but I'm just feeling really inspired at the moment. I'm feeling more creative with what I'm cooking, with the outfits I'm putting together, with the Christmas presents I'm planning for everyone. I'm feeling like I've got my mojo back and I'm loving things more than I have done in a long time. For someone who has always loved fashion, I felt a natural lull in that passion for most of this year (I haven't quite been in the loungewear-all-day-every-day camp, but I haven't been wearing as fashionable outfits). Well it's back and it's better! And I sure am thankful for it.

I'm thankful for my freedom and privilege

For most of this year, I was in a job that was making me desperately unhappy. Pair that with a global pandemic and it was pretty much more than I could cope with. I did speak on my blog about how much I was struggling in the summer, but now I'm out of the other side I can see it was even worse than I realised at the time. Stress, depression, and anxiety shouldn't go hand in hand with earning a living and so with the support of my family and Ollie, I was able to quit in favour of a new title - lady of leisure. Obviously I'm not the first person to want to leave a job and I know I won't be the last, but I am one of the few who are able to without anything else lined up. I'm very thankful that I'm privileged enough to have been able to and to the people around me who have helped make it happen. I now have a total sense of serenity that will set me up nicely for looking for the next exciting step in my career!

I'm thankful for the great outdoors

Aside from holidays, I don't tend to get out and about too much normally. But when the government takes away restaurants, bars, spas, and the ability to go to any other countries, there's not much left to do other than to get outside. And I have to say, I'm very thankful for it. We're having such a lovely autumn/winter; that gorgeous crispy, frosty, low-sun kind of weather that is an absolute nightmare to drive in but otherwise totally beautiful. Lockdown 2.0 has given me more time to get out and appreciate it, which is a silver lining if ever there was one!

I'm thankful for being in love

As with all of these style of blog posts that I've written this year, I couldn't write it without a special shout out to Ollie. I honestly couldn't have made it through this year without him and while I'm in no doubt that this coronavirus nightmare won't end at midnight on 31st December, it does feel like we can start to look to the future. Well, I'm super excited to look to our future together and I'm so thankful to have him by my side.