Weekly Hello! #20 — Wins!

Yesterday I woke to a message in my TikTok inbox from a lovely mutual of mine, Misa Narrates. The message read, "... So, you’ve inspired some words for one of my stories this month". The story in question was inspired by one of my more popular TikToks wherein a neighbour having not seen me in a while had assumed that I was "Summering" somewhere else as Cape Town had begun cooling due to the approaching winter.

If something as flattering as this happened to me before October of 2019, I would have been amused for a moment then almost immediately forgotten about it and carried on with my low-vibrational life. So, what changed in October of 2019? I began keeping a "Wins" folder. This is a folder that lives on my desktop, which is shared to my iCloud, and allows me to catalogue wins and moments of gratitude in the form of screenshots. Having it live in my iCloud also means that it follows me around across all my devices, thanks Apple. My very first entry was a summary screen from Headspace after having completed 1000 minutes of meditation and being on a 9-day streak!

Our brains have an adaptation that has helped us improve our built environment and constantly evolve what life could be, the hedonic adaptation. As much as it's great for having us seek out better farming and hunting grounds, it robs us of being able to appreciate what we have and experience at the same level of intensity as it originally occurred, which can often leave us with emotions that push us to constantly look for happiness and fulfilment around the corner. Keeping a wins folder short-circuits this process and makes noting moments of gratitude as they occur easier while also providing a place to go to revisit them. It's a living breathing gratitude journal!

I don't open and scour my wins folder frequently, if I recall correctly, I've only ever read through it once, in April 2022, but we don't talk about April 2022.
The greatest utility of this process isn't that it serves as a repository of self-congratulatory screenshots, it's instead how it has honed my awareness of things to be grateful for in my daily life. It's an antidote to feeling unseen in my relationships, both personally and professionally. It's a vote against self-doubt when goals seem impossible. In difficult times, it's a reminder that although things might seem dire, I've had breakthroughs before and more are certain to follow.

If you struggle to note the positivity that surely exists in your life, I highly recommend you keep your own Wins folder! It might take a moment to build up the habit, but once you have, your life will suddenly seem to be overflowing with gratitude and hope.

Stay you, stay great! You never know who's watching and being inspired to do the same! ✌🏽