the mabel method👵🏻

a trick for gratitude when you don't feel like it!

me on film by JD :)

Hello family and friends🌞! It’s been awhile, but I’M BACK because my health is on the upswing, woohoo! I’m feeling very grateful these days, but sometimes it’s not easy! For this reason, I’m all for different methods to add to my toolbox that I can pull from during those tricky days where the world seems like too much, something tragic happens, or my body is giving me raging hormones that I have no control over (hello luteal phase). I’m excited to share a new one that I’ve named the Mabel Method, but first I want to give a little backstory on the name “Mabel” ❤️:

During the early days of the pandemic when people were baking sourdough, discovering tiktok for the first time, and creating their “bubble” of the 6 people they could hang out with- my longtime bestie and neighbour Apeksha and I really owned our shared Cancer zodiac stereotype of being homebodies!

We were in our late 20s/early 30s right before COVID hit, so you have to understand that this was a huge pivot from our “fast lives” of working multiple jobs, going to school, and going out at night!

We quickly delighted in redecorating and cleaning our spaces, slowing down, reading, cooking, baking, crafting skills, etc.! Basically all the little things in life that were in our control of making beautiful during a scary unpredictable time.

One day, she texted me something along the lines of “tending to [her] petunias while waiting for [her] pie to cool,” and I texted back: “Okay, Mabel!” (Mabel seemed like the most “grandma” name to me.) From then on we lovingly call each other Mabel/Mabes/Mabelline and take pride in our many comforting “traditional grandma hobbies” that we continue to practice! When life starts to get “fast” again, I always turn to my Mabel activities to slow down and take a breath❤️.

Since it’s the start of Mabel birthday month, and this gratitude technique came to me recently and has to do with old age, I’m deciding to coin it “The Mabel Method”😍.

Here’s how it goes: Imagine you lived to be 100 years old. Imagine yourself in your 100-year-old body and what life, your body, and the world might look like then. Who might still be in your life, and who might not? What is technology like? Now imagine falling asleep, and then waking up still as that 100-year-old self but in your current “[whatever age you are]”-year-old body. (ex: your 32-year-old/75-year-old/40-year-old/20-year-old body, etc.) You would LEAP out of bed, with so much more energy, and do what? Here are some of many examples of what I would do:

1. See my dad and tell him how much I love him❤️.

2. Play with my 4-year-old niece and 10-month-old niece nephew with my sister and gush at how small they still are👶🏼!

3. Go on a nature walk and marvel at the beauty of the earth and surrounding animals (that may or may not still exist when I’m older🥲)!

4. Work up a sweat on a long run, hot yoga class, or dancing💃🏼! Not to burn calories or get the “ideal body”, but to remember what it feels like to have a strong, young body that still moves easily (and maybe it will remind that younger self to continue exercising so that I can still be mobile at 100)!

5. Embarrassing to write, but important😅: engage in ~romantic activities~ with my partner, and be extra lovey dovey all day🥰.

6. Write longhand, and notice that my hands don’t shake and aren’t in pain😌. Also I would write whatever content I wanted without feeling embarrassed, because who really cares what anyone thinks?

7. Have a big party with all my friends and family🎉!!!

What’s also interesting to note are the things you would not do. For example I wouldn’t want to complain or bicker, be on my phone or the computer in general, go to a job where it’s long hours away from people I love, or spend the whole day inside. Yet it’s surprising how many of our days are filled with things we would never miss. How can we fill more of our days with the things we really love, and enjoy those things while we still have them?

It’s easy to look back at our childhood and think of all the people and things and we wish we could experience again, but I think the Mabel Method helps us better prioritize what to fill our days with right now, and puts things into perspective in general. This is what gratitude is all about! “You don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone” doesn’t have to be the case. Live for the little things!!! Feel free to share what you would do in the comments, I’d love to hear it!

Recommendations:

If you liked this method,

1. Check out a really cute movie called My Old Ass - you’ll see why after you watch it!

2. Try a sister method I shared a few months ago: