Three Positive Things

Three Positive Things

Written on 8/18/2014

Two times a year Peace Corp sends out a magazine with whats happening within the Peace Corp Community and with helpful hints to making your years volunteering abroad as successful as possible.

In the last issue, which we actually received about a month ago, had a section about stress relieving techniques. On the list of possible activities was keeping a journal with three positive things that have happened each day. Although writing in a journal every night has been as much as a struggle as trying to blog about things happening in my life here....I decided I would take on the challenge of starting another journal.

My first time writing, I realized how challenging it was to think about the positive things that had happened throughout the day. Normally before bed, I was thinking about what I was going to do the upcoming day, or in the next few weeks, and sometimes even what I was going to do over the next few years. Writing three things that had happened that same day felt awkward.

After a few days, I realized that even throughout the day I was making mental notes of how great the moments I was in were. How beautiful it was that a little girl was coming up to me and showing me her English notebook from a class I taught and was so enthusiastic about having an English conversation with me. The wonderful conversations I had with people who I had just met a few months ago. The pure bliss that came from playing with nine puppies at once.

Doing this little thing each night before I went to bed not only made me lay a head full of positive thoughts down on my pillow, but had also helped me focus more on the present. Don't get me wrong, I still have had a few panicked thoughts about what I am going to do after these two years are over, but they've been happening a little bit less. Instead, I'm finding myself having a lot more moments of just being pleasantly pleased in the moment I am in.

Thanks Peace Corp Times!