And so it all comes to an end! 30 days of gratefulness complete! I’m somewhat sad to see it go. Getting to spend a few hours every day writing about things that are important to me has been really great. There have been moments when I really didn’t feel like doing it, but pushing through and putting the thoughts down on paper has been good. Also walking around every day thinking about what things I wanted to write about has put me in an extra positive mindset. I’m a big believer in positive thinking. I believe that we see what we are looking for and I have noticed how the simple shift of thought towards gratefulness has impacted my perspective and my ability to tackle the everyday challenges. Even though the Gratefulness Challenge writing is over, I hope the outlook it has caused me to adopt is something I can carry forward.

1. My Dad: I talked about my mom on her birthday and I just don’t think I could consider this list complete without talking about my wonderful father. He falls into the category of respectful men I spoke about a while back. He was the first one I ever met and set my expectations pretty high for any guy that has come into my life since.

When people meet my family they always say I look like my dad and act like my mom. Though I agree with their initial observations I think the more you get to know us the more you realize how both my parents have impacted the person I have become.

I think some of the biggest lessons I have learned from my dad have come through watching how he treats the people around him. He is the definition of selfless. Everyone deserves a chance and is treated with respect and love by him. He is the ideal mediator of any situation and an eternal optimist.

Through his example I have not only come to understand the value of treating others with respect but have even more importantly learned how I deserve to be treated. Not every girl gets a dad who supports them as much as mine. I have never had any doubt that I can do anything I set my heart to and I have always believe that I deserve to be loved unconditionally. That is because that is how my dad has always treated both myself and every other woman I have seen him interact with.

My dad is an exceptionally intelligent and talented man, but he is ridiculously modest about his accomplishments. Humility is a trait of his that I work hard to adopt. Because it is in his softness that his true strength lies. Many of my artistic and spiritual beliefs have been influenced by rich conversations we have had over the years. He is always willing to discuss and debate with me and somehow manages to support, yet challenge me all at the same time. I say that if I can find a guy half as great as my dad I will be beyond lucky. He has set the bar unimaginably high and I am really grateful for that.

2. Love: I touched a little bit on this in my Valentine’s Day post. Love for me is such an inexplicable thing. There are some many forms which it can take and it is constantly shifting. The only thing I know for sure about love at this point is that no matter what kind of love you feel, sharing it with others brings about an immeasurable amount of joy.

People always jump straight to the romantic version of love, but that is such a small part of all the love you will give and receive in your lifetime. A limited number of the interactions you have will be romantic. So lets not limit the definition of love to just that. The people and things that I truly love are the ones which I feel have had a life altering impact on me. The ones which I will never forget. There is nothing as limitless as love. Every time I think I may have run out of room, I find space for more. Anything that powerful and beautiful I can’t help but be gratefully in awe of.

3. Completion: Every chapter must come to an end. Today, not only am I writing my last gratefulness post, but I also completed and submitted a project I was collaborating on (more info on that later this week). As sad as endings can be there is a great sense of accomplishment when you dot that last i and cross the final t. Sometimes I work on something for so long that the end seems really far away. When I do finally get there it’s a nice feeling to get to pat myself on the back and say “well that’s done, what’s next!?”