Stuffing Christmas card envelopes, cooking dinner, making sure the dance bags were ready, facilitating homework, washing dishes, folding laundry, signing forms, doing some writing work, and getting the licence plates on my car changed as they disintegrated. That was the afternoon agenda yesterday.

The treadmill under my life was moving full force and I was running around the house like a wild woman. After dropping my oldest at his activity, I returned home to find a note from my 9-year-old daughter on my computer.

It read, “To Siobhan. Just remember you are doing great!”

Almost brought me to tears. So many times we are beyond busy trying to tick off our to-do list and we miss the ta-da moments. We aren’t necessarily looking for thanks or validation, but when it comes, it is enough to break us. She noticed my frenzy and she reminded me that I’m enough just the way I am.

Out of the mouths of babes.

Gratitude for the busyness is paramount. We have dishes because we had a meal. Laundry because we have clothes. Homework because our kids are learning. It seems so simple, but being grateful for the half full glass changes everything.

Melody Beattie once said, “Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.”

What can we be grateful for today? And who can we write a little note for? To tell them they are doing great? It will make someone’s day and remind you both that you’re more than enough.


Originally published at thetreasureyouseek.blogspot.com on December 9, 2016.

Originally published at medium.com

Author(s)

  • Siobhan Kelleher Kukolic

    Mother-of-three. Freelance writer. Author. #HuffPost blogger. Believer in dreams. www.siobhankukolic.com

    Siobhan Kukolic is a storyteller at heart. She writes to inspire the belief that we have all we need to be the change we wish to see. She recently published her first book, available on Amazon and Indigo. The Treasure You Seek is about following your heart, believing in yourself beyond reason, embracing failure and knowing that you are enough. It includes inspirational stories about famous failures, cultural icons, world leaders and regular folks like you and me. The goal is to remind us that we have all we need to be the change we wish to see. A perfect read for graduates from elementary school through university, people starting their career, changing jobs or retiring, friends going through a medical crisis, new parents, empty nesters and anyone who wants to be inspired. She started her career as a copywriter working on campaigns for organizations including Esso, Mead Johnson Nutrition, Grand & Toy, Labatt, and SC Johnson. While raising her kids, she volunteered as co-chair of her school council for seven years, helped get eight 20-foot maples donated for an eco-classroom and co-ordinated the building of a school peace garden with 115 donated trees and shrubs for Earth Day. She co-founded a not-for-profit movement called Blueberry Shark, named after a healthy fruit and the only animal that doesn't get cancer, with a mission to create the healthiest kids in the world. By providing a voice for those who didn't have one, she rallied enough media attention to help crowd-fund $105,000 in two weeks to pay for an unfunded drug for a mother of two dying of stage-four brain cancer. She also used media attention to nudge the government to change drug coverage policy right before an election and get a $360,000 a year drug covered for a 12-year-old cystic fibrosis patient. Her letters to the editor are frequently published in the National Post and she has represented her neighbourhood by making deputations at city council and the school board. She spends her time blogging, speaking to students and corporations about grit, and juggling the schedules of her three kids as they follow their dreams in competitive Irish dance and ice hockey. www.siobhankukolic.com