It’s been one heck of a year, and when things don’t go the way we want them to, it can be hard to find things to be thankful for. But 2020 was a big year for us, baby Mara was born and she set the tone for the most amazing year we’ve had – despite spending 3 months in lockdown, going through surgery (I hate needles), and not being able to travel when and where we wanted.

But, as I am writing this, we are 3 days away from December, and I realize 2020 is a year where I stop chasing my goals, and desire, and just slow down, and appreciate what I already have.

8 Things I Am Particularly Grateful For In 2020

1. Baby Mara

Welcoming a baby is always an amazing event, but only a mom would know just how grateful I am for her. This year, she’s the reason everything was better, more positive, more thrilling – despite the quarantine, the grim news, not being able to travel, and all that jazz.

The best thing I’ve ever done was becoming a mom to Mara. She showed me how strong, courageous, patient, and amazing I can be. There are good and bad days, but as soon as she smiles I forget about the sleepless nights, the back pain, or the fact that is playfully pulling my hair.

I will forever be grateful to Mara for making us a family, teaching me how to love, showing me proof of the strength and resilience I have inside me.

Mara when you’ll be old enough to be allowed online and you’ll be reading this, know that mommy loves you (and crying while reading this… also you’re sleeping on my feet and you just got your first tooth).

2. My body

Since health was a main issue this year, I am grateful and happy that despite everything, including a C-section, my body kept me going, and going hard. I am thankful that I am healthy, I am thankful that I have this amazing and generous body that helped me through many sleepless nights nursing baby Mara, through caring for a baby while being on client calls, through chocolate abuse and very little time for actual relaxation. I miss going for a swim and seeing my favorite massage salon every week. But I am happy that my body is working.

3. Staying healthy despite the crisis

I am very grateful that up to this moment we didn’t have any Covid scares in the family, and although some friends got it, they were able to recover fast. Looking back, being super pregnant and giving birth just before this thing hit us all hard, I am thankful that A, I didn’t have time to watch the news, and B, that we didn’t get sick.

If you’re reading this, and you have beloved ones who suffered through this, I am sorry.

4. My friends, family and their support and love

It’s weird how this happened in quarantine time, but it did. This year I was able to strengthen my relationships with my family, especially my mom and dad. I have received so much support and love this year that I don’t know what else to do, than feel thankful and blessed to be the recipient of this lovely energy. With a baby, there was less time for frequent one-on-one virtual conversations with friends and other people in my network, but when it did happen, those meetings have been very valuable.

5. Being able to slow down

Before 2020, a normal day would be work, work, work, go out. Then the weekend would come, and we’d pick up our stuff and head out to the mountains, to the sea, overseas… We had plans to travel in 2020 even though we had a baby on board. But this year we slowed down… and not having the ability to travel casually, as much as we liked, was actually a good thing, because it allowed us to focus on becoming a family of three avid travelers. It has also given me time to slow down and appreciate my time on this Earth without the noise of visits, seeing people, going places.

6. Reset

One of the best things that have happened this year, and that’s leaving the pandemic apart, was being able to reset everything I believed about myself and feared. Becoming a mom has brought me the gift of healing, of re-calibrating and rebirth. I feel so powerful, determined and confident about whatever I decide to focus my attention on. Yes, in the beginning I resisted as much as possible, but the short maternity leave I took was a worthy pause that reset my tone from go-go-go, always thinking about the next thing, multitasking in running several business, to becoming more aware of my time, of the thoughts I had on repeat in the back of my mind. I feel I have a more mature and nourishing energy flow now, than where I was at the beginning of the year…

7. We got to travel

We are travel bugs. Last year, in December, we were making plans for where we are going to take Mara on her first trip outside the country. We were looking at Greece, Israel, Croatia, Bulgaria. Then reality hit, and instead of booking plane tickets to travel abroad, we, like many others, travel closer to home. We did cover a lot this year. With a lot of safety measures, we were even able to travel to Bulgaria with the baby as well. As for traveling in Romania, we took every opportunity to go outdoors and in September we packed our stuff and roamed the country with a RV. I am very thankful for each trip we came back healthy from. I am very grateful that we could go out.

8. Reconnecting with my hometown

I grew up in Sinaia, a beautiful little town in the heart of the mountains. It has a castle, old forests, magical rivers and hidden fairy tale alleys. I moved from there in my 20s, when I left for college. Ever since I would go every now and then back home, but never longer than one week. This year however things were different. And I loved being able to take baby Mara and show her my favorite places growing up. Plus, we enjoyed nature, childhood memories, mom’s food, the mountains and the forest.

What are you grateful for?

Showing gratitude is a powerful mindset exercise, especially in times of need and crisis, similar to what we are living on a global scale today. When we find the power to stop and take notice of the good things that happen, as little as they might be, we are actively creating happiness and space for us to just live in the now.

I am doing this exercise every Sunday evening, where I simply go over the things that I am thankful for. My health, my body, my family, the baby, the house I live in, the plants in the garden, the planet that I call home, the water I drink, the electricity that powers the devices, the food that nourishes the body etc.

It completely changes my mood and gives me closure at the end of the week.

With your permission, let’s try this now. Leave a comment and write one thing you are grateful for right now.