First name / Friend,
Earlier this month I was in a call with my mastermind group. We all discovered that we were going through challenging chapters of our lives where we felt grief and disappointment.
Between divorce, entrepreneurial hardships, postpartum exhaustion, family planning, and health challenges, it was a lot to process.
Part way through the call, one of the women shared a question from a book she was reading that stopped me dead in my tracks:
Why are you grateful for the thing that hasn't happened yet?
I had never heard a question like this before. Of course I'm a huge fan of gratitude (and the research behind it). But I hadn't thought about being grateful for the things that haven't happened yet.
While I don't support using positivity as a crutch for our challenges or tough emotions, I believe we can use an “and” approach with gratitude by answering the above question.
Here are a few examples…
Maybe you've been in a career rut and aren't sure what's next for you. You have a job opportunity come up, but your intuition tells you it will be more of the same thing, so you decline the offer. Then a year later, you stumble upon a dream job that's a much better fit for you.
You are grateful you didn't end up at a job that kept you in a longer cycle of disappointment.
Maybe you've been looking for a life partner and are feeling defeated after several lackluster dates. You decide to take a pause from dating and instead work with a life coach. Through the process you discover beliefs and patterns that were attracting the wrong people into your life. After coaching is over, you begin dating again and meet an incredible human who meets your needs.
You are grateful that you didn't choose someone who couldn't love the most authentic version of you.
Maybe you move to a new city and are feeling sad you don't have close friends nearby. During the first year, work gets really busy and you end up starting a family. After settling into a routine, you join a new gym and meet other folks in your neighborhood. With time, you build an amazing circle of friends.
You feel grateful that you didn't try to build your community during a time when other priorities were more important.
. . .
Spoiler alert - all three of those examples are true stories from my own life. But perhaps they are experiences you can relate to as well.
I share this message about gratitude on the last day of 2024 because when you are preparing for the new year, you may feel a bit of overwhelm or disappointment with parts of your life.
Maybe this year has been hard. Or maybe you're telling yourself the story that you didn't do “enough" or aren't on the right track.
The truth is, your life is unfolding exactly the way it should and for your higher purpose. It doesn't mean it's easy, but if you trust in this knowing you'll start to feel a bit lighter.
So today I'm wishing you joy and peace as you reflect on the things that did and didn't happen for you this year - and what good might come from those experiences.
If you're looking to take your life to the next level in 2025, I'd love to support you or your team at work. Complete an interest form here and stay tuned for some BIG announcements next month. 
