Hi friends!

I’ve been on my second sabbatical this past week! For those of you who are new to this blog, I decided to take every 7th week off to step back and recharge. I wrote about it here and received a lot of positive feedback from folks. I hope some of you’re trying out your own version of mini sabbaticals 🙂

Naturally, I’ve written this mini sabbatical post ahead of time – but on my agenda, I had quality time with my husband, Dave, and maybe multiple Thanksgiving parties with family and friends. I’m probably in a Thanksgiving food coma by the time this post comes out… So typical… Zzz…

Because it’s the time of the year when we look back and reflect on what’s happened in our lives, I wanted to take a moment to acknowledge what I’m grateful for.

I’m grateful for many things. My husband and I are pretty healthy (and our pets too!), and we’re happy toghether. We have a roof over our head and a warm bed to sleep in. We can eat good, healthy food every day. I get to share my life with people who are kind, compassionate, and inspiring.

And most of all, I’m grateful to have the privilege to be able to pursue my dream. Yes I work hard for it, and it takes courage to do so. But I’m also in a situation to be able to choose what I want to do. And that’s not just my doing.

It’s true that certain things about me (e.g. race, gender, citizenship etc.) make my life a little more difficult sometimes. And I also fit a lot of the conventional societal expectations, and that’s allowed me a lot of space to explore and live the kind of life I want to have.

Being able to choose your passion is a tremendous privilege, and I never want to take it for granted.

What are you grateful for today?

xoxo Yuko