For those of you who are in the United States, I wish you a beautiful Thanksgiving week. I know this is a challenging time for many of us who can’t be with the people we love because of the pandemic. Our traditions and rituals are either altered or impossible this year.
However, that doesn’t mean that we can’t still find meaningful and joyful ways to show our love and gratitude to friends and family.
Below are some simple ways you can connect and celebrate, even from afar!
Set aside some time on Thursday or Friday (what I call “The New Black” Friday) and choose one thing from this list and commit to it. I promise, you will be glad you did!
🍁 Phone ’em
Choose an hour or two to do nothing but dial phone numbers of people you love and miss. Surprise them with a phone call simply to say, “I’m thinking of you and wish I could be there in person, but I want you to know how much you matter to me.” For added zing, play them a song (your own instrument or something from a playlist) that has meaning to you both or invite others in your household to chime via speaker phone.
🍁Share photos
Dig through your old photos — printed or digital— and find one (or many!) from a previous Thanksgiving in which you got to be in person with loved ones. Text, email, or mail a copy of that photo to someone in it and share a single line about your memory. If you are meeting people on a video call, you can bring a printed photo to show them. Sharing visual memories is a great way to relive them!
🍁Show they matter
Every year on the Friday after Thanksgiving, I encourage people to spend at least part of the day staying home and making Love List Gifts — gifts made from lists of specific reasons you love someone! I always host a workshop to offer prompts and presentation tips. This year, I’m hosting my workshop through the Reimagine Gratitude Gathering. You can register for “Gift of Love: Gratitude in Action“ here. More information down below my signature.
🍁Get inspired
Last week, I facilitated an author panel called “On Being Glad and Grateful.” During our hour together, Irene O’Garden, Ronnie Walter, and I shared some ideas for how to celebrate Thanksgiving in new ways during this pandemic. Watch the replay of “On Being Glad and Grateful.”
I send you virtual hugs of big Thanksgiving love! May you feel love, connection, and joy no matter with you are or who you are with. Know that I am walking this path with you!
Seek celebration — even in dark corners,
xo Sherry
P.S. Here’s the link to my Reimagine Workshop, Gifts of Love: Gratitude in Action on Friday, November 27th at 10am PST/1pm EST, sliding scale pricing starting from $0-100.
P.P.S. Maybe you want to connect with someone you love this weekend, but it is difficult for some reason? We can do our best to show up for the people we love — even when we are struggling to connect or when someone is going through something so unimaginable we don’t know what to do. Here’s a link to my 20-minute Facebook Live conversation with author Marlena Fiol about “Showing up for People — Even in Difficult Times.”