hello I'm starting to lose my voice a bit
This is something of
it a little bit of a different kind of
video for me so I want to see how it
goes and see what you think and see what
happens but I have a box of gratitude
conversation starters and I'm going to
go through some of them so I include one
of these in each of the handwritten
letters that I send to $3 + patreon
supporters there is a link down below
should you wish to receive one of those
letters so what I do is I send a card a
thank-you card and I send one of these
cards and my answer written out I don't
know if people like that but I really
like doing it and I think a good way to
start a conversation about gratitude so
I'm gonna go through some of these cards
and I'm gonna tell you what my answer
who are you grateful for I'm most
grateful for three people
I can't narrow it down to one and
they're gonna be super stereotypical so
don't judge me
my mum my husband and my daughter I
think they all probably go without
saying my mum is incredible she's
amazing she has been a rock in my life
and continues to be a rock in my life
she forgives me without question she
helps me she understands me in a way
that sometimes I don't understand me and
more than all of that she genuinely
tries to understand things that she
doesn't understand so my mum has become
something of an expert on academic job
hunting at the academic job market and
classics because that's what I love and
do and she has sort of gone out of her
way to listen and understand what my
life is like and that's incredible it's
incredible to find someone who genuinely
loves you unconditionally every juncture
of your life the only person who will
ever do that for you is your parents
really because she has been there for
everything through years of depression
and eating disorders and all the things
my first marriage and my divorce and the
birth of my child and deciding to move
halfway across the world and being
loving and supporting and caring and
kind and wonderful and amazing and mum I
love you so much
my daughter obviously sometimes I really
don't like my daughter because oh my god
kids are a handful they can be annoying
they can be irritating and awful and the
one time that you want to sleep in they
decide that 4:30 is the best time
to get up and have pancakes and until you
get off of make pancakes then they're
just gonna annoy you but like genuinely
kids are incredible my kid is incredible
she is smart she's way smarter than me
she is loving she's kind she is
inspirationally kind she came home from
school not that long ago and said mum I
want to cut off my hair and donate it to
a little girl who's too sick to grow her
own hair and she's been growing at her
for 3 and 1/2 years she was really
precious about it she was all very like
I'm gonna grow my hair til it's as long as
Rapunzel's hair and then she's just: bob
because she's amazing because she's
amazing and it genuinely humbles me how
amazing she is okay my husband for so
many reasons he is a rock
I'm gonna say all the stereotypical
things he loves me he supports me he
understands me
yeah he's lovely he's just lovely and he
just makes me happy and even when I'm
not happy it's okay I can just be around
him and he accepts all of it okay yes
okay next one
what's a book you loved reading I am
going I think brave new world by Aldous
Huxley I've read this book so many times
every time I read it I love it the only
other book that would come close is
Lois Lowry's the giver which is
like children's dystopian fiction and
these are like my two favorite books The
Giver
and brave new world and they kind of are
the same and do the same thing I guess
another one that comes close is
Fahrenheit 451 are you sensing a theme
here
you should read all of those books and
I'm gonna link them below what talent or
skills do you have that you're grateful
for wow this is hard I genuinely don't
know I genuinely am in a place right now
that I don't know that I can answer a
question like this about myself what
talents or skills do you have that
you're grateful for I'm kind maybe
that's not a talent or a skill but it is
important it's important to me I am
grateful for the ability to be kind I do
work hard at being kind I know that
sounds ridiculous but I do
and I think it's really important to
work hard at being kind even when you
don't want to be kind even when you are
seething with jealousy inside because
that jealousy is never about the person
that you're jealous of there is no
reason not to be kind so yeah that maybe
is not a talent or a skill but it's
something I'm grateful for let's swiftly
move on shall we
what are you proud of I struggle with
this a lot but I am really proud of
myself I have achieved a lot sometimes
it doesn't feel like that and sometimes
when I compare my CV of life not
necessarily just work next to somebody
else's life I feel very inadequate
I feel often like I am not getting
anywhere and not achieving anything but
those feelings are wrong
I probably getting somewhere I have
achieved a lot I got a PhD in three and
a half years with a baby and a divorce I
have I don't know I'm just I work hard
and I try and be a good person and I try
and be a good mum and I try and be a
good wife and I try and be a good friend
and by and large I think I succeed at
being a good person and I'm quite proud
of that so on that perhaps over
emotional note I think I'm gonna end
this video Oh in the comments let me
know what you're proud of I would love
to hear I'll see you on the next video
okay
