Ringing Out My Year of Gratitude

For almost two years I’ve been trying to find a place in the monetized world where my voice could add value. It’s been a long journey from divorce attorney to cannabis mom, and along the way I’ve been humbled. But in 2018 I decided to practice daily gratitude, and I believe that changed the trajectory of my life. If you ask me how I was open this professional transformation, I would have to admit it was only possible after I found myself alone, rejected and, a little bit, desperate.

During my year of practicing gratitude I was able to give up on feeling badly about all the things I could not control, and was able to open up to what was swirling around me. Because if you had suggested to me on January 1, 2018, that I would be writing a column as the maternal voice of cannabis on January 1, 2020, I would have said you were high!

But that’s just what happened.

In addition, I believe my year of gratitude has increased my patience just as my own children are done with my “mom” skills. Sorry kids! So, although I still believe myself to be a trained legal fighter with a special affection for the thrill of righteous indignation when heading into a good fight, I’ve changed. Since leaving the law, giving up on politics, and embracing cannabis, I’ve come appreciate the strength we can all find through daily gratitude and the bubbling feelings of hope. So I’ve decided to expand my focus in 2020 on appreciation, hope and gratitude.

I also think this attitude adjustment has made me more approachable. Now that I introduce myself as a “cannabis mom” to people who ask me what I do, I find that people love sharing their own cannabis stories with me. And I find myself answering question about CBD and THC and the wonders of cannabis to not just human moms, but to pet moms too. My family has become so comfortable with the wonders of cannabis that my son made a video for a school project about our dog, Sunny, enjoying her CBD infused treats I’d picked up from Medical Mary at the Cannabis World Congress Exposition. He got an A!

(Insert Sunny Video)

And that’s not the weirdest thing that happened to me this year.

Honestly, I never really know why things don’t work out, especially when I try my best and want to fit in. I’ve been working hard to find a place to add value to the expanding cannabis world and I think I may have finally found a home. Cannabis gives us space to be quiet or be more present with the ones we love. And cannabis helps us laugh, maybe its greatest gift of all. Laughter is a potent affirmation, if we can laugh with each other we can all feel that hope for something better.

I may be living a life the opposite of my expectation with humor my anchoring force,

but during my year of appreciation, hope and gratitude, I hope to share all the music and joy and love I’m finding in this world and how we can all focus more on the little things and be kind to each other. In the past I would have scoffed at daily affirmation, actually, I would have scoffed at them just last year. But together we can do this, because the isolation of cannabis of the past century was damaging and we’ve sacrificed too many lives and given up too much control to governments that demonized without information. But we now have the chance to ensure our pets, our parents and our planet benefit from cannabis normalization.

Thanks for reading and remember to be appreciative, hopeful and grateful.