Black woman sitting with flowers
Life Lessons, style

An Attitude of Gratitude

Guess who’s back?

I know it has been a considerable amount of time since I have written on here. For those of you who used to avidly read my posts, I apologise and to the newbies, welcome. I have actually been blogging over on my business blog (shameless plug), but if you are not imminently planning a wedding or special event then that content may be of no interest to you.

Just a quick heads up for you – the good people over at ToyShades have kindly given me a discount code for my readers / followers, so that will feature at the end.

I decided to resurrect this blog because I am still passionate about sharing life lessons, travel, fashion, poetry etc… and Instagram captions don’t quite cut it in terms of space nor attention span. In addition, there are certain topics that I want to write about that just seem better suited to long-form pieces so here we are.

On to the topic at hand; having an attitude of gratitude. That premise is something my parents – particularly my mother, has been hammering into my mind since we (my brother and I) were young. They always said that appreciating the things you have now, opens the doors for more things to come. True to form, they did not just speak this mantra, they live it too.

My parents never stop giving and it’s a beautiful, although often maddening trait, but only when people take advantage of their kindness, but I digress. For the most part, I try to have an attitude of gratitude but sometimes, when I allow the pressures of the world and my over-active mind to consume me, I find myself being ungrateful.

A few nights ago, when I was particularly overwhelmed, I started focusing on the things that I want and do not have [yet]. Once I realised, I felt quite disappointed with myself and after a 5-minute pity party, I decided to enumerate all of the blessings in my life and before I knew it, I was thanking God and singing praise songs!

Black woman wearing sunglasses
Wearing ToyShades sunglasses

I used to keep a gratitude journal and that helped a lot. The ability to write and subsequently refer to a list of all that you have to be grateful for is very powerful. And I do not simply mean listing big things but little things we take for granted, such as waking up each morning or having a roof over our heads. If 2020 has taught us nothing more, it has shown how fragile life can be.

So, this is me encouraging you to take a little time out each day to appreciate the things you have. It may not seem like much right now but oftentimes when you think about it, you realise that you have much more than you had a few years ago. The things you were once praying and wishing for, are the things you have today and if that isn’t the case – don’t give up. Delay is not denial. When the dream comes to pass, it will be more than you ever could have wished for. At least that is my hope and prayer for you.

Love and Light x

To celebrate my return, use code AVSTYLE20 at the checkout to get 20% off sunglasses from ToyShades. If you follow me on Instagram you will see that I have been wearing the ones I purchased (with my own money) for over 2 years so they are tested and true – I wouldn’t recommend anything I do not like. For 30% off, subscribe to my mailing list on my About page and the code will be emailed to you.

Wearing ToyShades sunglasses

Photographs by the talented Luke Fotographia.

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