Now that I am actively involved and running Let It Echo, I have met mothers who also lost their children because of congenital heart defect. It is truly sad. The grief that is felt is incomparable. Some mothers are ready to engage and talk about it. Some find it difficult to talk about it still and keep the feelings to themselves. I respect that. We are all in different stages of grieving. 

Grieving mothers ask me how I appear to be okay. Well, it never goes away. That scar is still there but I have found a way to be ok. I try to live a full, happy, and healthy life. I am aware of my mortality and how temporary things are. It is when I live fully, love fully that I touch eternity. 

It wasn’t easy, though. Every day is still a struggle. I try to keep moving. What did I do to keep moving? I keep track of things that I am grateful for. 

At the start of every  year, I have designed and dedicated a Thank You box. I commit to myself that whenever I have something I am grateful at the moment, I write it down on a small paper, fold it, and drop it to the box. It is like a piggy bank of a list of gifts I receive. On the month of December when everyone else seemed to be the happiest except me, I open the piggy bank and read each folded paper. I find myself feeling better after every paper I picked. Implicitly, this habit had also trained my mind to look for the blessings and good things happening in my life. It has changed my life for the better.

You should try it too. Do a Thank You Box.