This past Dec 31st, my friend and I opened our gratitude slips together and shared this 11-year tradition in person.
Many of my clients are seeking ways of getting offline before bed and cultivating a calming wind-down routine. Since this is the beginning of the year, I’d like to share my evening practice of going back to the analog method of writing down daily gratitude and ending my day with positive emotions.
For the past eleven years, my best friend and I have kept a gratitude jar. We have a New Year’s Eve tradition of opening each gratitude slip and reliving and remembering all the tiny miracles and blessings from the past year.
There are small wins and big wins. Moments of connection with a friend or a stranger (who later became a friend). Glimpses of happiness that I would’ve normally forgotten about during the year. I open each one and remember that particular day with clarity and nostalgia. I take pictures of certain ones and send them to friends so they can share in this joy.
At the end of the year, I stack all these Post-its into a huge pile and place them in a plastic bag. Each bag contains a time capsule of all my happiest moments of that year.
This year marked eleven years of memories.
I’d like to think that when I’m gone, someone will find this shoebox filled with the happiest moments of my life. It wouldn’t be recreated by AI or owned by anyone online.
It would simply be tangible proof of a life rich with joy and gratitude.