Your Gratitude List
No. 20 -- Using the • bullet point • to fill up a page
Welcome to “What’s Your Story?”, the occasional space where I invite YOU to participate in the writing. Each episode, I offer a new writing prompt. In 200 words or less, YOU get to tell YOUR story. Today’s a little different though…. (see below)
What are you grateful for?
I’m grateful for my friend Carol who regularly uses Calendly to sign up for “Quiet Time with Hal.” Carol is a wonderful person with whom to sit quietly. Also, she’s got some great ideas for how to live a good life. About 4 months ago, Carol gave me one of those great ideas.
At the time, every night, I was writing a vertical, numbered gratitude list of ten things. Carol gave me the idea to instead fill up a whole page with gratitude separating each one with a hand-written bullet point.
I loved her idea so I went straight to Amazon and ordered a simple spiral bound notebook and some Precise V5 pens. Ever since then, I’ve been filling up whole pages with gratitude — each separated by a bullet point. I don’t keep count of the gratitudes anymore, but I write a bunch every night. Sometimes it’s a single word, sometimes it’s a short phrase and sometimes it’s a whole sentence.
Please join me in filling up this whole comment section with gratitudes separated by bullet points! Write as many or as few as you’d like.
Happy Thanksgiving. I hope to see you in the comments!
How to type a bullet point.
• On a Mac, option-8 types a bullet point
• On an iPhone, tap the 123 button → tap the #+= button → find the bullet point.
• For other devices, google “How to type a bullet point on a ______.”
How to write a gratitude list with bullet points.
• toothpaste • my mom • all my Substack followers • I have two beds • the warmth in my home this morning • the fact that I barely slept at all last night, but I got the idea for this Substack post • how awesome Emma is • the heater in my room • The fact that my ears are ringing super loud, but I barely notice it anymore • Kachava •
Bullet points • broth • the awesome reach of Substack • the new lamp I bought for the bathroom that turns on when you touch it • Cameron for all his trips to the airport • Annette for all the quiet times • Ativan for allowing me to do some things I enjoy • Clean water • Mango for being so generous and devoted • Emma K • My two wheelchairs • Gratitude lists • My sponsor • The fact that I'm about to go take a nap • Kent Quaker Meeting • My new psychiatrist • The morning light •
•that when I wake up with nightmares at 2 am my friend is awake in mumbai •for other sick people that make things and share insights that help me survive this better • for the respiratory therapist who told me that I would get better and gave me his phone number so he could send me the names of doctors who had helped his friend when I was hospitalized and got closer to death than I'd been in a while, so I left the hospital feeling hopeful and grateful, not scared •that my neurologist yesterday said it was ok to not be ready to try SSRIs for brain fog after the last time a new medicine messed me up and also gave me more of the drug that stops me from shaking so I can eat more easily •my friends who love me even though I am sick and none of us really know what that means