The Quiet Thief

The Crime Scene. Within minutes of the robbery, my local coffee shop was transformed into an action scene with detectives and all!

Last Thursday, me and a writing buddy were at one of my favorite local coffee shops when, in broad daylight, an armed robber clad in a ski mask came and demanded cash. Unbelievably, I was so engrossed in my work that I missed the entire altercation. By the time I noticed that there was even a robbery, the suspect was out the door and a police car was speeding into the parking lot. My first reaction was that this had to be the quietest thief ever! How could I have missed a masked man, a woman shoved, a foot chase?  As a "regular" and a writer, this was pathetic. In hindsight, though,  I was lucky...blessed even. What could have been a very scary scene was more of a warning to be more observant and chance to give thanks and be grateful that nobody, including my teen baristas, were physically harmed. 

Thankful Thursdays

 

For the last few years, each Thursday I have observed Thankful Thursday. Not that this is the only time I express gratitude...but this is when I make a special effort to give a social media shout out to people whom I was grateful for both physically and virtually. When I launched my business last year, I incorporated this into my business model - sending out Thankful Thursday newsletters. Since then, I have strayed away from those newsletters as well as other expressions of gratitude. In February, I renewed this vow to center my year around gratitude. Interestingly enough, I decided Thursday that things were too busy for me to pray that morning, to meditate, to journal, to give thanks. Although I had planned to send out a Thankful Thursday newsletter, I put it off until later that day. Little did I know, my life plans would be interrupted and inconvenienced beginning at 3:51 p.m. I blamed the thief for me throwing me off course and keeping me from yet another week of my Thankful Thursday.

The Gratitude Thief

The next day when I woke up, I realized that the coffee shop thief was not the only thief that I should be worried about. The quiet thief I speak of is the gratitude thief. The gratitude thief has a number of aliases and accomplices.  Being too busy, sleep deprivation, chronic illness, financial distress, life transition, loneliness, failure (or perceived failure) have all stolen time away from being in the moment, living in gratitude. This is not only how I choose to run my life - but how I choose to run my business. As an entrepreneur and solopreneur, it is necessary that my core values are clear personally and professionally. Whether we are in a meetup group or a virtual LinkedIn group, expressions of gratitude are always welcome. 

In a very odd way (because odd is the way my brain works), I am thankful to the coffee shop thief. If it were not for him, I would not have taken the time to notice the quiet thief that has been trying to distract me from my true self. Now that I am aware of this quiet thief, I plan to arm myself beginning with this post:

Thank you for reading and sharing my blog and look forward to new and improved features on this site!

Regards,

Leslie