What are YOU thankful for?

This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated by you making a purchase clicking through my links. I received this Thankful T-Shirt in exchange for providing this review. All opinions are strictly my own.

Thankful is a powerful word.  "Definition of thankful. : glad that something has happened or not happened, that something or someone exists, etc. : of, relating to, or expressing thanks" November brings the holiday of Thanksgiving and many people express during the dinner, what they are thankful for. So, what are you thankful for this year?

I am thankful for family first and foremost. I have a son who is struggling with addiction and I don't see him often, but I am thankful that he is alive and trying to get his life together. I am in his debt for giving me a grandson, whom I love with all my heart. I also have two beautiful and loving daughters that have grown up to be strong independent woman. My sister, who has always been there for me when I needed her. An older brother who I am so very connected to and can share anything with. One more brother who I am thankful is still with us this year. He  had a heart issue a few months ago and actually flatlined in the hospital. Now he has a pacemaker and is doing great. The doctors and nurses in that hospital that saved him will always have my gratitude.

I recently started a new job which will help pay some bills that I racked up while being unemployed. My head has a place to rest it called home. Food is always on the table and I have not known hunger like so many in this world have. So there are many things I am thankful and grateful for this year.

Cents of Style wants to celebrate all the things we are thankful and grateful for this year. They have developed this beautiful t-shirt with the words thankful grateful and blessed emblazed across the front. It comes in either a maroon color with gold writing, or the one I am wearing in the photo which is white with brown writing. The shirt is extremely comfortable and would be nice to wear after the big meal relaxing in front of the tv watching football. It is a classic design that can be worn with jeans and boots or dressed up a little with a blazer and heels.
Fashion Friday Story, 11/4/16

NEW Thankful. Grateful. Blessed. Graphic T-Shirt
The code is THANKFUL1 and it will make each t-shirt FREE with any $25 purchase, + FREE SHIPPING! Anything on our site is free game - any purchase that totals $25 qualifies for the free t-shirt. Here are steps for purchase:
1- Find products you love (jewelry, clothes, shoes, whatever you have to have) and add it to your cart.
2- When the cart totals $25, add the Thankful Grateful Blessed shirt from our Fashion Friday page to the cart.
3- Hit Checkout.
4- Put the code THANKFUL1 in the "Gift Card or Discount Code" Box to make your t-shirt FREE!
  Fashion Friday Story - 11/4/16 - FREE Thankful T-Shirt with any $25 purchase w/code THANKFUL1

  

Our story for this t-shirt comes from Courtney and her feelings on being thankful:

I’m going to admit to you one of my biggest character flaws. Perhaps, even my fatal flaw. This flaw goes hand-in-hand with some of my biggest strengths, as often flaws do.

I expect a lot of my self and others. I hold myself to high standards, which propels me to work towards excellence, but I also expect the same of those around me and when others don’t live up to my high expectations, I get annoyed. I get frustrated. I get mad. I then have a tendency to fume. To rail. To express my frustration verbally to whomever is around me. There it is -- my character flaw.

However, I know this is a flaw. It is unprofessional, unbecoming, and can prevent me from achieving the goals and connections with others I am working towards. So, how can I work against this flaw? How can I work on being more understanding? Kinder? And have less, let's be honest, tantrums?

I have found that the antidote for my fatal flaw is gratitude.

I was recently listening to one of my favorite podcast series, Chase Jarvis Live, and Chase was interviewing Lewis Howes. They were talking about how anger and gratitude cannot exist in the same place, at the same time. It is next to impossible.

This was an epiphany to me. This was an answer to my blaringly obvious character flaw. Show Gratitude. Express Thanks. Acknowledge Blessings.

So, I have taken ACTION on this. And implemented the following three step plan to help me improve and become a better version of myself.

Step 1- Daily Acknowledgement of Blessings.

Each morning, John and I have committed to expressing three things we are grateful for to each other. This is so we can start our day from a place of gratitude. Acknowledging the good things we have, even on the hardest of days.

It’s simple. It doesn’t take long, but it does have an incredible impact. It allows me to start my day from a positive, thankful place.

Step 2- Express Thanks.

I am working on truly expressing my appreciation and thanks for the people in my life and the wonderful things they do for me. NOT just saying THANK YOU, but really taking the time to tell them how they impact me and why their actions mean so much.

My commitment is to find three times during the day to express that thanks to another. Big or Small. Bank teller or child. I know that expression of thanksgiving will help me be more positive, but it will also uplift another and have a ripple affect far beyond myself.

Step 3- Stop. And Be Grateful.

When I find myself in a place where I am annoyed or frustrated with another and I am prepared to rant. I am working on first acknowledging that moment and then thinking of three things I am thankful for in that moment to counteract my annoyance, frustration, or anger.

This simple act stops the frustration in its place. You cannot be angry and grateful at the same time. Try it. It doesn’t work. The gratitude will take over and the anger will leave.

I believe if I can cultivate these three things on a daily basis, I will be a happier person. I will live in a state of gratitude and be less likely to get frustrated with others. Instead, I will be able to see the good in them and understand, that they are doing the best they can. And maybe I will be able to be a little kinder with myself and realize, that I too, am doing the best I can.

So, when I put on my “grateful, thankful, blessed” t-shirt from Cents of Style. It is a tangible reminder of how I am working on being a better version of myself.

Show the world how grateful, thakful and blessed you are by getting one of these FREE T-Shirts but do it quick. This offer will not last.   Fashion Friday Story - 11/4/16 - FREE Thankful T-Shirt with any $25 purchase w/code THANKFUL1