Category: Grateful Heart Monday

Welcome to another chapter of Grateful Heart Monday, where gratitude always becomes the main focus of my writing, which for today is for an action I took that I never thought I’d take again due to all my long-standing health issues, that being to join a gym and actually work out again.

I haven’t been a member of any gym since 2013. I stopped going back then because of all the Fibromyalgia pains and sciatica and well a bunch of other life debilitating health issues too. It honestly just became too painful to go, especially on the physical level, but even on the mental and emotional level as well. Being so limited on what I could do at a gym, I just felt like it became a waste of time and money.

While I rarely missed going to the gym over the years after that, mostly because of how bad I felt in my body, I never stopped hoping I’d get back to it one day. Then, one day, just a few weeks ago now, I was talking to a friend named Jym, who told me he had just accepted a full-time position at one of the local branches of the YMCA. He suggested I check out his location sometime. Even though plenty of others have suggested I do that with their gyms in past years, I never felt the desire to do so, until that very moment. I don’t know why I felt different this time, but I did. So, a few days later, I decided to check out the JCC YMCA that Jym worked at.

Being that I don’t have any income coming in, I knew I couldn’t afford any expensive gym membership. If you can believe it, one of the last gyms I belonged to in Weymouth, Massachusetts, had a membership fee that was close to $100 a month!!! Thankfully, YMCA’s are not known for being that expensive, but even better, have been known to work with low income-based people on the monthly membership fee. So, I came prepared with my 2019 taxes and explained why I didn’t have any income. I was probably more forthcoming than most would have been in my shoes and talked about the long path of pain and suffering I’ve been on. A few days later I received a very warm and welcoming call from a woman named Chris who had my membership application in front of her.

We spoke at length about the struggles I’ve had and why I hadn’t been a part of any gym for a long time. She was truly kind and understanding to all my issues, which made me very thankful. At first, she attempted to see if qualified under any of their health programs, such as for those who have things like diabetes or cancer. Sadly, I didn’t qualify under any of them, but she told me not to lose hope and that she’d get back to me. Later that afternoon, I received another call from her with great news. They were able to do my membership for $15/month, something that was most definitely doable in my current circumstances of life! When the call ended, she let me know that my membership would be active that afternoon and I thanked her profusely for helping me so much. The real test came next though.

For someone like me, someone with chronic health issues that tend to be quite debilitating at times, the hard part is overcoming the ego and actually getting in the car to go to the gym. I’m grateful to report I successfully did that the very next day. After getting my membership card at the front desk and thanking Sue, a pretty amazing long-standing employee at this location who made me feel so very welcomed from the moment I met her, I locked my things up in a locker and headed into the Wellness center. There in front of me loomed all the equipment I hadn’t seen for so many years. I felt somewhat overwhelmed and maybe even a little nervous. I immediately headed over to the cardio machines and located the one piece of equipment I had last remembered using back in 2013, that being a Stairmaster.

A Stairmaster is really just a conveyor belt of stairs that rotate around at varying speeds. I used to really enjoy using this machine, mostly for the number of endorphins it created every time I utlizied it. So, I hopped on the machine hoping for the best, and quickly overcame the learning curve of how to use the 2020 version of it. Twenty-seven minutes later I had achieved something I never thought would be possible again. I had climbed 100 flights of stairs, the same amount I used to climb back in the day! I can’t even express how good I felt after that. I finished my workout that day with some light upper body strength-building and headed home in a pretty incredible mood. I’d return the next day, and another a few days after that, accomplishing three workouts in one week!

You have no idea how good it feels to be working out again. Even better, my body seems to be responding much better than I thought it would. I’m extremely grateful for this and am taking this as a sign that my health is improving. While I know this may seem like such a silly thing to be so grateful for, especially if happen to be someone without any major health issues, for a guy like me, who’s been on the physical exertion sidelines for so long now, achieving what I did in my first week at the YMCA is something most definitely to be grateful for.

So, thank you Jym, Sue, and Chris, for making this possible. And thank you God for allowing this as well. I truly do have an immense amount of gratitude now for all of you on this Grateful Heart Monday.

Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson

Welcome to another chapter of Grateful Heart Monday, where gratitude is always the main focus of this weekly series in my writing, which for today I want to offer that for a woman named Barbara who provided me a much-needed reminder of why I should keep writing.

I know I’ve discussed this a number of times prior in my writings, but I think it’s always important to highlight anyone who reaches out to me personally and lets me know how much they appreciate my life musings, of which Barbara is the most recent.

After publishing the article titled “Are You In Touch With The Little Kid Within You?” a few weeks ago, I received a comment directly on my blog shortly thereafter, as well as a friendship request on Facebook from a friendly woman named Barbara who let me know she was a regular reader of my blog and a fellow recovering alcoholic. To have met one of my subscribers and a fellow recovering alcoholic was plenty a blessing already. But it was what Barbara said next that totally made my day. She told me I had a way of putting into words what she has felt since childhood and could really relate to me. Hearing that meant the world to me!

It has always been my goal from the very beginning of me writing to the world that I could write in such a way where readers could easily relate to their own spiritual journeys in life, almost as if either they had walked in my shoes or vice versa, I in theirs. Far too often I’ve struggled reading many other people’s online musings because they were written in such a way that felt far above my level of understanding. So, to hear my writing was very relatable to was a blessing indeed.

Regardless, knowing anyone appreciates my writing in general and regularly follows me is truly a gift. Honestly, on far too many days, I don’t feel like I’m anyone special and could easily be forgotten if I suddenly passed away. Writing in this blog has been an outlet for much of that insecure voice and has often helped me to overcome it, to express myself, all my pain, my life’s sufferings, the blessings I’ve received, and all the spiritual growth I’ve made. Knowing anyone has related to the any of this and has enjoyed following my articles is something that has helped me to keep going at times, especially on those days where my mind has tried to convince me I’m a nobody and to give up just like my parents did.

So, thank you Barbara. Thank you for providing me a much-needed reminder of how I’m appreciated, especially during a time in life that often feels way more difficult because of this ongoing pandemic. I’m truly grateful for you on this Grateful Heart Monday!

Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson

Welcome to Grateful Heart Monday, a series I began years ago to focus the start of my week off on something positive, that being gratitude, which for today is for a guy named Mickey, a barista from Starbucks here in Toledo, whom I’ve really come to admire his personality just from me being a regular patron at his store location.

The first time I met Mickey was at the drive-thru window in the Westgate location here in Toledo, a location most definitely known to be the busiest in the Toledo area. Wait times at this location often exceed every other Starbucks around here due to its proximity to both The University of Toledo and much of the local shopping and restaurants. I used to avoid going to the Westgate Starbucks solely because I always felt the baristas there were overworked and rarely seemed friendly because of it, almost like they really didn’t like their jobs. But the day I met Mickey at the drive-thru, his upbeat energy started to make me feel different about this location, so I began to return, often coming inside instead. One thing I consistently noticed when I did is that somehow his presence there was seemingly having this uncanny effect of raising the spirit of all those there and the place itself.

Have you ever met someone who is able to do this just by them being them? That wherever they are, those around them and the places they are in just seem better because of it. That’s what I see with Mickey. An upbeat, energetic, humorous, and charismatic type of guy who beats to his own drum. Often sporting some type of cool colored hairdo, Mickey definitely stands out in a good way, even in his appearance.

There are other employees at this location that I now look forward to seeing there as well besides Mickey. While I don’t know if it’s Mickey’s energy that’s changed much of the energy of this location, or whether it’s his energy that drew more employees there who carry similar energy as him, what I do know is that it’s now fun and enjoyable for me to get my beverages at the Westgate location.

One thing I really like about Mickey as well is his dedication to his job, one that I hope one day I may have when I work again. Truly, if you can believe it, I actually have a dream to be a part-time barista when my pain becomes low enough to work again. Why I want to be at least a part-time barista is so that I can be of greater service in a way that’s different from the current life of service I’m doing through the rooms of recovery from addiction. Watching Mickey at his job has inspired me to strive for that even more, especially because he carries the energy of the type of person I want to be If I’m ever serving the public coffees and teas. The type of energy that lifts the customer’s spirits just by them being them, that boosts the morale of those who work with them just by them being them, and that allows themselves to be themselves regardless of what anyone else may think.

That’s why I’m truly grateful for Mickey and dedicating today’s Grateful Heart Monday entry to him, an employee from the Westgate location of Starbucks here in Toledo. While I may never know him any more than just a guy who serves my coffees and others drinks and foods from time to time, he has definitely made a huge impact upon my life by him just being him.

Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson