100 Things I’m Grateful For | a list of gratitude & joy

Oh, hello, everyone!! ^^ Welcome back to my little blog! If you saw my little December update a while ago, you’ll know that I have been struggling a lot — with burnout and writing and just feeling like “I’m not doing enough.” And with all that and the depressing things that have happened in this world… it can be hard to find specks of joy in this world. To not slip into depression and anxiety, feeling completely lost. To not give up hope.

And so I have been seeing this little blogging thing going around where people are just sharing lists of things they are grateful for.

Two of my fellow blogger pals have done this as well (shout-out to Ava and Journey!!), and so I decided I might try doing this as well.

A list of 100 things I am grateful for. A list of 100 specks of joy, big or small, that I have found in my life.

So without further ado, let us get started then. 🙂

1. WITWIGO. You guys are simply the best.
2. LOTR fan magazines.
3. Lord of the Rings.
4. Faer. Someday…. Someday I shall have a dagger of my own and name her Faer.
5. Eshaloni. I cannot even begin to explain how satisfying it is to see your own conlang written out in front of you.
6. Millie Florence. Millie’s such a brilliant middle-grade author and is so inspiring!
7. Christmas and all the joy and laughter and warmth that comes with it.
8. My Thai friends! Of course I don’t speak Thai, and yes, of course they don’t speak English or Chinese. We use Google Translate to talk, and truly, it is so much fun to be with them!!
9. Freya Skye.
10. Regan Hicks.
11. Lizzy Hilliard.
12. Cats!!
13. The new planner I got!
14. AsiaBooks. A wonderful bookstore here in Thailand with a most wonderful MG section.
15. Middle-grade.
16. Emma M. Lion. Emma is the best!!!!! Her wit, her quirks, and the wonderful town of St. Crispian’s and its residents…. I adore this series.
17. The Q. A Beth Brower book that completely broke me.
18. Inside jokes. (They are the best!)
19. Rainy days where you can just curl up with a book and read/write!
20. Productive writing days where you’re just so in the story and with the characters… *sighs* Those are the best.
21. The moment where an idea just strikes you and in an instant, magically fixes every plot hole. A rare occurrence for me that is always very much welcome.
22. Butterflies.
23. Songbirds!
24. Extended editions of LOTR. Yes, I already put LOTR on here, but the extended editions, my dear!!!
25. Eowyn. She is such an inspiring character!! I love her. She is one of my favorites.
26. Tara Strong and Kelly Sheridan. They will forever be my favorite voice actors.
27. The days when you get up early enough to see the gorgeous sunrise and you’re all alone in your room, with the golden light filtering onto your books…
28. Snow. I hardly ever see snow where I live in China! So whenever it does snow it is a truly magical occurence.
29. My signed copy of The Peach Thief by Linda Joan Smith which the author herself actually shipped to me from the US… I am eternally grateful for Linda for actually doing this!! ^^ And the sweet message she wrote!
30. Valinora Troy, who is a middle-grade author and also a good friend of mine!
31. Elena Ramirez, a girl who came into my head when I was a kid, whose story I am proud to have finally written.
32. Those Very, Very Good & Dear Friends & Kindred Spirits that you so rarely meet in life.
33. Australian, Scottish, Irish, & English accents.
34. The crazy games we neighborhood children played when I was a kid…
35. Fellow young writers.
36. My brothers and sisters in Christ.
37. Marigolds and hydrangeas.
38. Sunsets.
39. The beach.
40. Forests and woodlands that just feel like magic.
41. That I’ve been able to speak to so many of my favorite authors on video call!
42. The two hour long video calls with my friends that end up going till 1 am my time.
43. The time Journey and I were preparing for our livestream and we ended up rehearsing till around 2 to 3 am my time!
44. NaNoWriMo.
45. The lovely little collage up on my wall.
46. The LOTR character art I’ve done.
47. The gorgeous little watercolor painting of a blue bird that is taped up on my wall.
48. My little blog!
49. Chocolate.
50. Chocolate chip cookies. Especially home-made ones.
51. Pringles.
52. Watercolor — both the paints, the process of painting, and the finished painting, which in my opinion, looks like magic.
53. My ukulele and tin whistle.
54. That time I was playing the tin whistle on the beach, and this random guy walked up to me and said he really liked my tin whistling and that it was so peaceful and actually thanked me for playing! And attempted to tip me!
55. Headphones.
56. Paper and pen
57. Merry, Pippin, Aragorn, Gimli, Faramir, and all the other LOTR characters I absolutely love!
58. The time I got a wonderful hardcover for the price of a paperback.
59. Anne of Green Gables!!!
60. Hope and the many children’s authors who have brought hope with their stories.
61. The whimsy and imagination of children!!
62. Pandas.
63. The fact that there’s no evidence that dragons existed but that doesn’t mean they didn’t exist…
64. ANYONE who can solve this Bilbo Baggins quote: ‘I don’t know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.’ What does this MEAN?? I’ve tried to solve this thing, but the wording keeps confusing me!!!!
65. The dream I have of someday living in a cottage in the woods with a collection of daggers and swords and books and a cat.
66. Good omlettes.
67. Sausages!!!
68. Warm mushroom soup….. mmmm it’s the best.
69. That I’ll be doing a virtual school visit in February! And that my books will be in a middle school library… Which…. *dies of shock* OH MY GOSH HOW.
70. Loose baggy T-shirts. I love these. I have one that I adore. It’s my favorite shirt. It’s just so COMFY!
71. The many craft stores in Thailand which have absolutely EvErYtHiNg. No, I don’t know why I wrote “everything” like that. *shrug*
72. Daring, brave, flawed heroines.
73. Salt. This is essential for any sort of edible food.
74. Vintage-looking anything.
75. Folk music you can just dance to. Someday I hope to dance with friends to folk music!
76. My readers.
77. The fact that 10-year-old me had big dreams and dared to chase them without a single thought. She is part of the reason I sit here typing this today.
78. Hobbits.
79. Lozenges, jasmine tea, Freya Skye, and audiobooks. Yes, Freya Skye is here again, but…. this is my go-to whenever I’m sick. Which I am right now.
80. Glass jars filled with water and flowers.
81. My little document where I’ve recorded/written down all the lovely messages from authors that I have written to and received replies from!
82. My lovely little journal, which is full of my little ramblings and pieces of both sadness and joy. I am considering naming it Anne, after Anne Shirley.
83. Poetry that takes you away to a whole other world.
84. Quiet nights of just… writing anything.
85. Noodles and instant ramen.
86. The nights where you just look up at the starry night sky and the sky just feels so ENDLESS and wide and like anything’s possible…
87. Fluffy stuffed animals
88. A warm, cozy bed.
89. Extravagantly long and meaningful fantasy names
90. Short but meaningful and amazing-sounding names that roll off the tongue
91. My glasses.
92. The guitar, which I cannot play but that I think sounds absolutely wonderful.
93. The song Celtic Hymn.
94. My many, many, many notebooks I have collected over the years of being a writer.
95. Glitter pens!!!!!
96. Gorgeous cover art for middle-grade and young adult books.
97. The Chronicles of Narnia. The lamp post! Cair Paravel!!! It was one of the first fantasy books I read. It is a most beloved series of mine.
98. Book fairs, libraries, and bookstores!! I’ve never been to a library or book fair, but they sound splendid. I must attend one someday.
99. Matilda, both the musical and the 1996 one. One of my most beloved movies.
100. Cute mugs of steaming warm tea.

~ ~ ~

My brain honestly has a tendency to focus on the negative. I think this is something all our brains do. Focusing on what I haven’t done instead of what I have done. Focusing on my ‘failures’ instead of my wins. Focusing on the doors in life that have closed rather than the doors in life that have opened. And so I think this list has reminded me of all the wonderful, lovely, joyful things that I have in my life. (And the fact that there are a hundred must certainly show that there are some WONDERFUL things in life!! You merely must focus on them more.)

So thank you, Journey Bloomfield, for writing your list of 100 things you’re grateful for and for challenging us to do the same as well. ^^

Do let me know down in the comments what you thought of this post and if this has inspired you to perhaps slow down and make a list of all of the things you’re grateful for in life! (And feel free to share some of your own lists down below!) Like Journey, I also challenge you to do this. Your list doesn’t have to be 100 things you’re grateful for — even just three (or one!) is enough. But just take a minute and remember all the wonder and whimsy and joy in life.

I suppose those are all my thoughts for the day. <3

Till next time,

-Isabelle

P.S. still a child by Lizzy Hilliard is a song I have been listening to… for quite a while now. And I think it really does capture what growing up is like — at least, for me, so go give it a listen!