Attitude of Gratitude.

Hello lovelies!

It's a beautiful cold winters night, my room smells of cinnamon and I'm wrapped in the cosiest jumper ever! Sounds peachy right!? It is! However, there are times when the good things in life seem a little harder to see.

I've found that on days when I am trying exercises and they don't go as well as I would have hoped, or if I'm just feeling a bit down on myself in general, things can feel very dark. I question my worth and my womanhood. I question my ability to be loved and valued and that can take me to a very sad place in my head. Although I will always advocate taking a little time if you need to feel sad to just let yourself feel it, to dwell in this place is not exactly health either! So how do we get out of the funk?

Well! There are several techniques I've found really useful in bringing me back to my happy place (meditation, lush bubble baths and yoga to name but a few) but NOTHING brings me out of a funk faster than a simple gratitude list.

The beauty of the gratitude list is that it can either be written out (I'm a girl that loves a list so I usually do) or it can simply be counted out in your head! Once you start to see how many amazing things there are in your life to be grateful for, it's almost impossible to go back to the sad space. You feel brighter, lighter, you may find yourself smiling away to yourself at just how much you have in your life instead of focusing on the negative!

For those of us with vaginismus, a lot of our hang-ups stem from what our body cannot do. We often curse our bodies for not being able to do what seems so simple for other women and, because the condition is hardly spoken about, we don't feel we have anywhere to take our frustrations or upsets. I find that in these moments, a gratitude list about what my body CAN do has always increased my love for my body and reminded me of my self worth.

This morning for example, I was attempting an exercise and didn't get very far at all. I got really freaked out and couldn't get very far inside and didn't have it in me to continue the exercise for more than a few minutes. I stopped and felt like crying, I felt I had failed all over again. Instead I took a deep breath, and started formulating a list of what my body HAD managed to do throughout my life. This body of mine has: woken up every morning for 28 years, regulates my breathing, has allowed me to participate and excel in a number of sports, gifted me with an imagination and a love of reading and writing, danced at prom, carried me to several different jobs, passed exams, learned to drive, took up yoga...the list went on and on.

My body is amazing, truly and utterly amazing and so is yours! We take for granted so many things that our bodies do for us every day! Sometimes we completely forget how amazing they are. You have only one body, and yes, conditions like vaginismus can make them a little harder to love sometimes. However, I would argue that having a condition like vaginismus encourages us to treat our bodies with patience and love. Our bodies simply will not be forced.

So, regardless of what today has thrown at you, take a moment to remember what you are grateful for in your life. I promise you will be smiling again before you know it!