Claire Sinclair is a teacher and photographer, lifelong Maplewood resident, and contributor to Village Green.
December 31, 2019. The world was so divided politically and there was just so much hatred towards each other. I was trying to think of what small thing I could do to help others find things to be grateful for. It was hard enough for myself to do and I didn’t know how to make it happen. I just wanted to be able to spark a bit of joy and conversation around things that weren’t political. Who knew what 2020 had in store for the world.
I decided that beginning on January 1, 2020, I would start a gratitude page on Facebook and ask a simple prompt each day to get people engaged. I invited about fifty people at first and maybe twenty-five or thirty joined. I didn’t even know if I’d be able to keep it up or come up with enough questions to get through the year. I called it Habitual Gratitude 365 (forgetting that it was a leap year… but….we dealt with it).
Gradually, more people joined and they invited others and it just grew and grew. As of today, the group has over 1,200 members from all over the country. I don’t know a lot of them and many don’t know me, but the conversations continue. My favorite part is when I seem random strangers conversing in the comments about things they have in common or just offering support to one another. It warms my heart when I talk with someone and they tell me how much they enjoy the group. Some tell me it is the first thing they look for each day. Not all 1000 plus members write everyday and some tell me that they don’t answer publicly on Facebook but use it with their family for a daily conversation at dinner.
Not all of the questions are about directly about gratitude, but they are written with the intention to look back and reflect about things you may not have thought about in quite some time. I try to post the question early in the morning giving people plenty of time to think about it.
As the year was coming to a close, people started reaching out to me to ask if I would continue it in 2021. I put it out there to the group and there was an overwhelming response to keep it going. I mentioned how I was worried about having enough questions to ask and several have reached out with great suggestions of new questions to use. With those and many more of my own, I already have over 100 questions as we head into the new year.
I am feeling hopeful as we go into 2021. A vaccine, new leadership…there is a lot to be grateful for. If you’d like that little spark to add to your day, please join us whether you respond directly in the group, or use it to reflect on your own. Reading the responses is my favorite way to start and end each day.
