A Path Back to Thankfulness - Alice Rosewell

What am I thankful for?

Part I.

I find this a difficult question to answer at the moment.

Of course, I am thankful for many things large and small; family, friends, a secure home, the NHS, being born in a time of antibiotics and vaccines in a country where a woman’s right to education and equality is taken for granted… But the pandemic has sucked all feelings of pleasure from my mind, and energy from my body; thankfulness has become an idea rather than a reality.

If that isn’t a description of depression, I don’t know what is.

So, if depression is on one side of the coin and thankfulness is on the other, how do I build thankfulness back into my life?

I was reminded of a book I read a couple of years ago which had a big impact on me at the time, but has been buried in a storage unit since I moved house just over a year ago.

The book, “Lost Connections” by Johann Hari, lists seven things we need to be connected to in order not to get depressed, so I went through them as a kind of therapy to try and reconnect with a life I am grateful for.

It was an extremely useful exercise and I recommend this book wholeheartedly to anyone who is trying to find a way through and out of depression. One of the Lost Connections struck me particularly: The natural world.

I have become a bit of a hermit over the last year, hardly even venturing into my garden; and there is no excuse for it. I have moved to an area where there are many places to walk. Woods, fields and riverbank are accessible from my front door and when we were restricted by law to only one hour a day, I did go out. With the restriction lifted, I constantly put it off and put it off until it got too late.

 

Part II

I took a break from writing at this point and my daughter called. She drove over and we went for a lovely walk in the sunshine, stopping for a cup of tea at a local café, and gathering blackberries and elderberries on the way home.

That evening I reviewed the things I am thankful for and these three stood out:

The eternal - to enjoy the seasons and feel connected to the yearly cycle of life.

The personal - to spend time with someone I love and who loves me, sharing news and ideas and plans.

The endeavours of others - everything from the person who made our tea at the café, to the authors of inspiring books and the inventors of technology.

 

And today, of course, I am thankful to this blog and the person whose inspired idea for this month’s theme set my feet back on the path to thankfulness.

 

My name is Alice Rosewell and I live in the city of Bristol in the South West of England (UK), the city where I was born.  I write in British English, so I hope that American readers will not be put off by British spelling of some words.

The first story I remember writing was at primary school, about the age of 7. This was followed by a dry spell which latest about 50 years during which I got through University, brought up a couple of kids, and had a successful career  in IT.

I had the outline of a story which I’d dreamed up one evening in the pub, but that sat in a folder for about a decade until I got made redundant for the 2nd time in one year! This event coincided with the Kindle becoming mainstream, and Indie publishing an option. I dusted off my few pages of ideas and got to work. For the last few years I have been writing contemporary women’s fiction, publishing three novels: Irrelevant Women, The Kite Makers, and my latest, An End to Dreaming.  A good friend described my writing as intriguing, uplifting, and will not give you nightmares!  I think that about sums it up.