![\"\"](\"https:\/\/kmccullough.com\/kblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Gratitude_2024.jpg\")
It\u2019s that time of year when we\u2019re reminded o be grateful for all the gifts we\u2019ve been given. It seems to me a great idea to stop and take time to bring to mind all the good things we have. But I prefer to try to practice gratitude year-round.<\/p>\n
I approach it not as an emotion, but as an exercise. It\u2019s something I do rather than something I feel. At least once a day I remind myself of the many good things I have. When I get down or am tempted to feel sorry for myself, I make it a point to bring to mind the positives in my life.<\/p>\n
It isn\u2019t always easy. My life isn\u2019t all bunny rabbits and roses. I\u2019ve had plenty of disappointments, personal and professional. I\u2019m an author, writing fiction, which all but guarantees that there will be plenty of soul-crushing events. Rejections, bad reviews, publisher issues, poor sales\u2014if you\u2019re a writer trying to get published or stay published, you\u2019ll have plenty of experience with these. However many stories you\u2019ve had accepted, awards you\u2019ve won, glowing reviews you\u2019ve garnered, there will likely be more of the bad things. You can\u2019t afford to dwell on them.<\/p>\n
Among the many things I\u2019ve been blessed with personally are a wonderful husband and a great family. Not that it\u2019s always been smooth sailing. There\u2019ve been crises, arguments, times when money was desperately short, some ugly health issues. I\u2019ve had periods of depression and felt helpless at times. But my children have bloomed into wonderful people and they\u2019ve provided many grandchildren that I adore.<\/p>\n
I have a warm house, plenty of food on the table, transportation plus the freedom to go wherever I want, and decent health (despite some ups and downs, including Long Covid). Those are a lot more than many people in the world have. Compared to many I live like a queen.<\/p>\n
And while I may not have any kind of bestseller status, I have had a number of books and stories published. I\u2019ve won awards and been a finalist for quite a few more. I\u2019ve had decent reviews on most of my books.<\/p>\n
Wait\u2026 One of my books (Falling for the Deputy<\/strong><\/em><\/a>) actually was an Amazon bestseller in an obscure category for a couple of days while the book was on sale. Good enough. I\u2019m grateful for it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It\u2019s that time of year when we\u2019re reminded o be grateful for all the gifts we\u2019ve been given. It seems to me a great idea to stop and take time to bring to mind all the good things we have. …<\/span> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[337,64,1],"tags":[344,399],"class_list":["post-3077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-holidays","category-musings","category-uncategorized","tag-gratitude","tag-thanksgiving"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmccullough.com\/kblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmccullough.com\/kblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmccullough.com\/kblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmccullough.com\/kblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmccullough.com\/kblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3077"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/kmccullough.com\/kblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3077\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3080,"href":"https:\/\/kmccullough.com\/kblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3077\/revisions\/3080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmccullough.com\/kblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmccullough.com\/kblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmccullough.com\/kblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}