My mornings were once filled with chaos. A joyous, fulfilling chaos, but chaos nonetheless. My four energetic, larger-than-life children filled the time between my alarm buzz until school drop-off with energy, chatter, and sometimes yelling. With the exit of my last child to college. the silence of the same hours was ominous. I am the consummate early morning person so I spent the first month or so feeling sorry for myself.
The fixer in me searched for something to switch my negative empty nest mindset that filled this particular time of the day before I left for work. I tried cleaning and organizing drawers but that lasted about one week before everything was pristine and given the emptiness of the house there was nothing left to clean. A mindless scroll one morning led me to a woman chatting about her morning journal prompts and feeling thankful for the opportunity to write. My ADHDness would not allow a full journal passage, but the idea of starting the day reiterating gratitude really resonated with me. I knew I did not have the brain bandwidth to devote hours to this, but a few moments to start my day seemed doable.
For almost one year now, I start my day by opening my phone’s Notes app and writing the ton or so pieces of my life that fills me with gratitude. Full disclosure-I start with my husband and children and then move to other things. Today I felt gratitude for the sunshine, walking with a friend, getting a phone call from every one of my children, my job that gives me flexibility to write this blog, a Netflix show that my husband and I find entertaining, and going to dinner with friends last night.
Admittedly, some days I find this practice challenging but the five minutes I devote to this practice has shifted my mindset. This simple exercise served to fill the sadness of my empty nest with the positivity of gratitude.