Life is hectic and often stressful. Overlooking great things that happen in our lives is easy because they get lost in the shuffle as we rush to meet deadlines, get kids shuttled to wherever they need to be, dinner on the table, dishes washed, or even running to catch that airplane to your next adventure. It’s easy to overlook the things that make us happy.

A few years ago, I began a 365 day photo challenge to capture one thing every day that I am/was grateful for. And for 5 years, I’ve captured one thing every day that made that day a good day. Some days the best I could muster was a nice cup of coffee or a snuggle of a kitty, others were more epic like completing my first Ironman or a successful moment at work. Mundane or not, looking back at those moments bring me happiness and remind me to be grateful. EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.

I recently discovered a series of blog posts over at the Local Adventurer website and was intrigued. As part of that blog post, they talked about doing a 52-week challenge and provided 52 topics that make you stop and think about your everyday life.

My intention for 2017 is to live with heart, or coeur. One aspect of that intent is to share with others how to bring the joy of travel and adventure into their lives. This challenge is a perfect way to ingrain the habit of publishing at least one blog post a week. So, over the next 52 weeks I’ll be doing my best to hit all of the topics listed in the gratitude challenge. I don’t promise that I’ll do them in the exact order they were presented and reserve the right to change a topic here and there; but I am committing to the challenge of sharing my gratitude over the next 52 weeks.

Let the journey begin! Here is a list of the topics I’ll be exploring. I reserve the right to change the order or the topic as I go.

• Why start this challenge? (This one!)
• Your Heritage: Texas, my Texas!
• The City You Live In: Little Elm: A Town with a Lake Attitude
• Spouse/Significant Other
• Things you like about spring
• A Family Member
• Something Someone Gave You
• A Friend 1
• Express Gratitude to Three People
• How Did You Do and Feel
• List 5 things you like about you
• Someone who inspires you
• Your favorite personality trait
• A challenge you’ve overcome
• A talent you have
• Family
• Things you like about summer
• Something you take for granted
• The weather
• Health
• A friend, 2
• Simple things in life
• Something you use every day
• Favorite physical trait
• A book you learned from
• Education
• Someone you got to meet
• Favorite spot in your city
• Your past
• Your favorite memory
• Your current age
• Core value
• A city you’ve visited
• Something you look forward to
• Things you like about fall
• Your neighborhood
• Your home
• Something you’ve created
• Music you love
• Greatest accomplishment
• Hobbies
• Your favorite possession
• A mentor/teacher
• Your favorite holiday
• What you do for fun
• Technology
• Opportunities you’ve been given
• Your job
• Things you like about winter
• Lessons learned this year
• 100 things to be thankful for
• Did this challenge change you