Letter 52 - Can You Do This 9290 times??

Ginny Dye

Dec 28, 2024

Hello Bregdan Woman!

You know I’ve spent countless hours over the years discovering and researching Bregdan Women.

Other times, they find me and drop into my lap. This story comes from one of those times!

An email from one of the readers of my historical fiction series popped into my email in 2022.

But first… a little background on the reader.

In September 2020, a spark ignited at the top of Echo Mountain, situated on the Oregon coast.

The Echo Mountain Complex Fire was born.

50 mph coastal winds quickly created an inferno that devoured 288 homes and 339 structures in the small community of Otis. Residents fled, grabbing what few personal items they could as the flames roared toward them.

Lives were forever changed – my reader’s life was one of them.

I received this email from my reader, Susan.

I currently live in Lincoln City at a hotel purchased for fire survivors due to the loss of my home to the wildfire in Otis last September. I’m grateful for the amazing community that came together to volunteer and help each other clear debris and start the process of rebuilding. Out of 293 homes lost (3 in my family) 72 have been able to move back to their properties. A nonprofit was created to help with the cost incurred in the cleanup of Otis. The Non-Profit, Cascade Relief Team, has helped and spearheaded cleanup of other communities impacted by the wildfires in Oregon this past year. The compassion and generosity we’ve experienced is truly heartwarming.

I love reading about your experiences in your blog as you also have had some major challenges. My perspective seems very similar to yours and I very much enjoy how you handle challenges. Today marks day 9,290 of writing in my gratitude journal. I’m very grateful for the books you write for us. Thank you.

My eyes were riveted when I read, Today marks day 9,290 of writing in my gratitude journal.

WOW!

In case you don’t want to do the math, that breaks down to 25.45 YEARS.

She wrote in her gratitude journal EVERY DAY for 25.45 years.

9,290 DAYS.

First, it blows my mind to think of the consistency of doing anything for 9,290 days.

Mostly, it reveals to me why she has been able to deal with losing everything she owned. I learned in subsequent emails, and during an hours long meal we shared, that she lost every journal in the fire but has picked up where she left off.

Of course she has.

She has learned the incredible value of practicing gratitude.

At every time in our life, each one of us needs to understand the power of gratitude. But not just understand. Understanding is good, but action is the only thing that will truly change how we live our lives!

My reader wrote that our perspectives seem very similar. She is completely right. Gratitude has been a key component of my life and my choices for a very long time.

Though there are times I struggle to find gratitude, it has become almost second nature to me. No matter how bad something is, I can always find something to be grateful for – eventually. I have no problem confessing it sometimes takes me longer than other times.

Don’t misunderstand me. There are tragedies. Horrible things happen. Pain is real. Loss is real. I have experienced all of this. They are real.

But so is gratitude.

The difference is that the painful things are not our choice.

Gratitude is a choice we make.

OUR CHOICE.

A Bregdan Woman’s choice.

Every person reading this faces a life full of challenges and joy. There’s no way to avoid some of both, but our power lies in choosing gratitude through the difficult times.

Gratitude during challenges will carry us through to the next moments of joy.

This reader inspired me to return to journaling. I used to journal every day. I haven’t for many years. I’m starting again.

TODAY.

The idea of doing anything for 9,290 days is more than daunting, but I can do it TODAY.

And then tomorrow. The todays and tomorrows will continue to add up.

Will you join me on this journey of keeping a Gratitude Journal? It’s so incredibly powerful to write down the things you have to be grateful for – big, small or tiny. They all count towards giving us a heart of gratitude.

You can journal on anything. A spiral notebook… a hard bound journal… or a Bregdan Woman Journal. It doesn’t matter how you do it, but I want to share The Bregdan Woman Journals with you.

I created them several years ago. They’re more than just journals. Much More!

If you want to check them out, just CLICK HERE.

There are more than a dozen different cover choices. You can pick the one that most reflects you right now.