When I made the decision to retire (for good this time, because this was my second attempt), one of the things I wanted to pursue was spiritual healing.
Not because I was spiritually broken. My faith was intact, for the most part. But somewhere along the way, after decades of navigating the corporate world while trying to be a mostly dutiful wife, my relationship with my faith had become more habitual than intentional.
I went to Sunday Mass. I attended the holy days of obligation. I ticked all the boxes I thought needed ticking. Somewhere in my head, I had convinced myself that these were the bare minimum requirements, and that if I played my cards right, perhaps I could negotiate my way through the pearly gates when the time came.
Retirement finally gave me something I hadn’t had in a very long time: time.
I wanted to use it to reconnect with my faith. The problem was, I had absolutely no idea where to begin.
Well…that’s not entirely true.
There was something else I desperately wanted to do — draw. It became a convenient excuse to postpone figuring out the faith part. Looking back, I think I simply didn’t know what “reconnecting” was supposed to look like.
Then I stumbled upon the idea of keeping a gratitude journal.
Knowing myself, I also knew there was a good chance I’d quietly abandon it after a few weeks. So I did something that would force me to stay committed: I decided to post my gratitude journal on Facebook. Every single day. For an entire year.
And that was how my 365 Days of Gratitude project came to life.
For all of 2025, I wrote about something I was grateful for every day.
It wasn’t easy.
Writing several paragraphs of gratitude for the world — or at least my Facebook friends — to read felt strangely vulnerable. It gave people a glimpse into the version of Leah that perhaps they knew…or perhaps never really did.
The thinker in me was hesitant.
But I also knew that if I had kept those reflections tucked away in a private notebook, they wouldn’t have carried the same weight. Making them public wasn’t about collecting likes or comments. It was about accountability.
Ironically, I rarely responded to the comments people left. Not because I wasn’t grateful, but because I didn’t want the project to slowly become about seeking validation. I wanted the gratitude itself to remain the purpose.
Some people probably thought I was being rude.
I convinced myself that if anyone genuinely wanted to continue the conversation, they knew how to reach me. And occasionally, they did.
So…did the project help me find that connection I had been searching for?
Yes.
But not in the way I expected.
Somewhere during those 365 days, I came across the idea that practising gratitude isn’t simply about saying “thank you.” It’s a spiritually healthy discipline because it forces you to recognise the gifts you’ve been given instead of rushing past them.
That changed the way I approached each post.
It was never enough to simply write, “I’m grateful for…” I wanted to understand why I was grateful. Why did this particular moment matter? Why did this person, this experience, this inconvenience, or even this ordinary Tuesday deserve appreciation?
Those questions made all the difference.
Looking back now, I don’t think I was searching for a connection with my faith after all.
I was searching for a relationship with it.
A connection can happen once.
A relationship needs to be nurtured.
Gratitude, I’ve come to realise, is one of the ways I want to keep nurturing mine.
Will I be posting another year of daily gratitude on Facebook?
Probably not.
This next chapter feels like something that’s meant to happen more quietly.
Specifically…in my Pray blogs.
Haha.
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