A book review, a confession, and a letter to Ann Voskamp

I can't start today without giving a big shoutout to my Clemson Tigers for last night's National Championship game. We fought so hard and played so well, and in the end fell short of the victory by 5 points. Aghh it was so hard to watch it come down to those final seconds and realize there just wasn't enough time left to do what we needed to do. What a year- we fought to the end and will come out even stronger next season!

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Now, how's this for a confession?

I made it a goal this month to finish reading One Thousand Gifts, a book on gratitude, and I had to quit half way through because I just couldn't handle it.

Ahh! I'm so sorry, Ann. I'm just not catching what you're throwing. Maybe this letter will help explain.

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Dear Ann,

I'm thinking it's me and not you, because based on everything I heard about you and your book, you're like the Holy Grail of gratitude. And here I am just not appreciating what you're offering.

I'm a straight-forward kind of gal- don't tell me in 300 pages what you could tell me in a list.

Because of that straight-forward nature, I don't have an appreciation for fluff. I'd rather you tell me that you're grateful for the hug that your sweet son gave you than hear you say, "I will embrace the skin of a boy child that my body grew from a seed."

And I'm not sure that I would stop to appreciate "light reflecting off of soap suds" in my hands while my kids were arguing in the background. I might actually feel grateful instead that I had words to tell them to stop arguing so I could continue washing the dishes and they could continue playing and we could all go back to living in peace together. 

So maybe we view gratitude for the little things differently?

Or maybe we just have very different perspectives?

I just felt confused and kept hoping that the next chapter, or the next, or the next would include some normal talk about the beauty and simplicity of gratitude or the practical application of making a list of 1,000 things to be grateful for in a given week or month.

Maybe I'm not poetic enough. Maybe I'm not patient enough.

The great news for you, Ann, is there are 1,000 people on Amazon who disagree with me. So I really think it's more me than you.

But you do you, Ann, and I'll do me. You can keep finding sweetness in soap suds and I'll make a more conscience effort to pause and appreciate the super simple things in moments of chaos. 

After all, extra doses of gratitude never hurt anyone.

Sincerely,
A-Different-Kind-of-Grateful Reviewer

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Have any of y'all read this book?

I'm curious to hear if you had the same feelings I did or if you think I'm awful for writing a negative review about a book on gratitude.

Tomorrow I'll be sharing a recipe for brussel sprouts that will make you LOVE them! And on Thursday, I'll share the results from last week's reader survey. If you haven't had a chance to share your thoughts and enter the giveaway, you can do that here.

See you then!