10 things to be thankful for this week

When I saw the list of prompts for Wellness Wednesday this week I was like “perfect“! I knew without a doubt which one I had to choose!

  10 things to be thankful for this week

Why? Well because I am feeling very thankful right about now! The last three weeks have been a roller-coaster of fresh emotion. I say ‘fresh‘, because I am an emotion driven kind of woman, I always have been. My sister and I can cry at television commercials, and when we saw the Titanic . . .well lets just say we kept Kleenex in business for at least 10 years!

So my life is one big roller coaster of emotion. I used the word ‘fresh‘ because the emotions I have experienced these past three weeks have been new to me. If you are a regular to my blog you will know that my youngest child started school 3 weeks ago. This means that I now have all 3 of my children at school, (well except Holly, but she is a puppy). It has been the moment I have quite honestly dreaded for years, for many reasons. One of which is that being a mum was all I ever dreamed about for so long, something at points in my life I doubted would ever happen.

I think a big part of me defined myself only as a ‘Mum’. Before it happened for me, it was all I could think about, then when I finally got pregnant it was like I had found Heaven. But being a mother was ripped away too soon, twice in a row. My world was shattered. Finally I gave birth to my perfect little daughter Aspen, and my world was restored. I already felt like I was a mum to my 2 Angels in Heaven, but that wasn’t how the world viewed me. But once Aspen was born I was finally a mum to a live baby. It was all I had ever dreamed of. I went on to have a late miscarriage after Aspen and then 2 more healthy living babies.

I think that when reflecting on my struggles last year, I can relate a lot of it to realising that the precious ‘before school time” was fast approaching and I needed to grieve for that part of myself. It is not that I have stopped being ‘mum’ I will always be needed and have purpose as a mother. It is that I had to figure out what other purpose the universe wanted for me, what new path I was destined to follow, and what would enrich my soul. Which leads me to number one . . .

The ten things I am thankful for this week

one: Writing. I am so thankful to be a writer. I am thankful for the universe’s divine message that led me back home. I say ‘home‘ because I had pushed my writing aside for so long, yet for me it is my home, it is the place I feel safe, warm, nurtured by my soul, and when I remembered that, I felt like I had returned home from a long, and sometimes lost journey. I now feel more fulfilled and at peace than ever.

two: My Children. I am thankful for all my children. I have 3 amazing, happy, healthy, intelligent children. I know every mum says this, but they are great kids. They are kind, and generous, funny and sometimes wacky like their mum! I am also thankful to my 3 Angels. The three children that I don’t get to physically hold. 

three: My family. This extends from my husband who has loved me this week and every week for years. My parents and my siblings who have been a constant strength and joy in my life.  Aunts, Uncles and cousins, I have been blessed.

four: Friends. I have many beautiful friends, and I am thankful this week and always for their love, and all the laughs. I have my friends who I have shared almost my entire life with, friends who know how nutty I am and love me, not despite it, but for it! I have made many wonderful friends through my children too, friends I now couldn’t see being without. And then my blogging, writing friends. It was unexpected that when I started this journey I would meet and be inspired by such amazing women, like my Wellness Wednesday friends.

five: Puppy. An unexpected joy in my life, she is just so cute! 

six: Nature. We live in a beautiful world! I am thankful this week for seeing the beauty of nature up close.

seven: Water. I am and always have been a water baby. When I was a child I would spend my summers snorkelling rock pools with my father, or in our pool. You couldn’t get me out of the water. I am drawn to it, I feel such peace when I am beside water. I am thankful this week I got to play in the water.

eight: Great books.  I am thankful for amazing books, books that teach me, guide me, books that make me laugh, and books that lift my spirit. I am thankful for reading ‘The Path to Wellness‘ this week, it was lovely relaxing on a weekend away with a great book. And a shout out to my book club, I love you ladies.

nine: Chocolate. Dark chocolate for me. I am always thankful for expensive dark chocolate, sorry but it’s true, and I know I’m not alone in being thankful for chocolate and a great coffee!

ten: Life. Obvious perhaps, but true! I am grateful for life, for all I have experienced. Yes even the darkness, because if I changed anything I would not be who I am today, surrounded by the people I love. I have learnt many lessons, and had my heart ripped out, at times it all felt too much, but I survived. The universe has taught me well. I have also had more joy and beauty in my life than I can describe (and I am a writer). I am blessed, and I love my life. I am thankful that the other night I walked along the beach hand in hand with my children and we called out together “it is great to be alive!” It was a great moment. Funnily enough my husband captured us on camera and we appear as spirits. It was just a trick of the camera, but it is as if he captured our souls being thankful in that moment for the happiness we felt.

I am thankful this week. What are you thankful for this week? Share your thoughts and leave me a comment below.

Tweet me: Life is a gift, embrace its lessons and be thankful for all you are and all you can be.

Thanks for joining me, love Mackenzie xx

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Have a great week xx

Photographs by Reflections photograpghy