“…having a positive attitude isn’t always painless – it’s a process, much like keeping a journal.”

It’s Gonna Be Okay journal

While shopping yesterday for items for Cody’s camp next week, I remembered I had wanted to buy a gratitude journal for a friend. I sent her a text asking if she or her whole family would use one. I hadn’t heard back from her by the time I finished my shopping list so headed to the journal aisle.

The reason I wanted to buy a gratitude journal for her is that her family is facing a summer of some very intense health issues. A gratitude journal wouldn’t magically make things better but it could give them a way to watch for good things this summer during the hard.

I was looking for one with a nice cover, something they could keep as a remembrance of getting through this stressful time. Instead, the first one I saw said, “IT’S GONNA BE OKAY” which caught my attention because I have a few friends who say that or something similar frequently. Then I read the rest of the cover and actually laughed out loud:

“A journal to reassure myself when I’m overwhelmed by the creeping sense of impending disaster and the all-encompassing fears both specified and vague that colonize my mind, body, and soul…”

Ha! I realized I was buying a journal for myself too.

Then I saw the journals “OKAY FINE, I’M GRATEFUL!” and “I’M SO FREAKING FREAKED OUT” – and grabbed one of each of those as well. I thought they were a nice complement to each other for my friend: some days we can be more grateful than others…some days we just freak out.

It turns out my friend already had a gratitude journal, but she readily accepted the freak out journal.

I paged through the other two last night and, while I have no shortage of unread books that I could read this summer, I appear to have two new ones to add to the summer reading list. There really isn’t much to read each day, just a quote about gratitude or optimism and a blank page for me to record “What I’m hanging hope on today” or “Why I’m grateful today, more or less.”

“While it’s true many of life’s ups and downs are out of our control, it’s also true that we can choose to enjoy the ride.” (introduction to It’s Gonna Be Okay journal)

There will be ups and downs this summer, not just for my friend but I’m sure in my own life as well. Because that’s life. We have good days and bad days. Or, as the Lawrence Welk quote for today’s summer reading states,

There are good days and there are bad days, and this is one of them.

Lawrence Welk