Wednesday Gratitude
Hi guys, Sam here. I hope you are all well and are having a great week!
We have come to the final week focusing predominantly on gratitude practice and wanted to give you a little exercise to keep you going for the next few weeks.
Firstly though I wanted to share with you a little more about me! Today happens to be the day 15 years ago I moved away from my "home" town of Manchester. I've mentioned before that I suffered depression as a teenager and a lot of this wasn't helped by the people I called my friends at the time. The area of Manchester I'm from isn't particularly nice and by the end of our school lives, most of my classmates had been involved in drugs, gang-related violence, pregnancy scares or actually having babies. Luckily I managed to avoid that side of it but instead ended up with friends who pretty much controlled everything I did. I was under a lot of pressure to be the person they wanted me to be, moulding me to be like them and making me do what they wanted me to do. It sounds really pathetic written down, but that was the pressure I felt to fit in and be part of the gang. In 2002, having quit college and briefly trying out a career in McDonalds, I qualified as a holistic therapist. Having considered suicide as a viable option to get away from the life I hated, I settled instead on escaping Manchester altogether and moved away - firstly living with family in Cardiff, then on to Wiltshire for 10 years and finally, for the last couple of years, here in London.
Moving away was one of the best things I ever did, but still, it took a good 6 years of alcohol abuse before I sorted myself out (THE best thing I ever did!) and started to become the person I am today. Although some of the things that I've gone through have been awful and at times unbearable, I still find a way to be grateful because all of these things that happened in my life has lead me to be here, to be happy and to be the true version of me. This is why being thankful for the little things is almost as important as the big things, because sometimes the bigger things are harder to find.
Coincidentally, this year is also Ashley’s 15 year anniversary of moving to London - something he will tell you more about in September...
So, my task for you for the next 4 weeks is before you go to bed every night, write down on your phone, on a piece of paper or into a journal ONE thing you are most thankful for from the day that you have just had. Even if it felt like the day from hell, there will be something that you have to be thankful for.
SMASH is back on Friday at 1pm, we will look forward to seeing you there!
Sam and Ashley
For Body * For Mind * For Life
