I think most of us can agree that 2020 has been a year we won’t look back on fondly.  Rather, it’s a year that we’re all collectively just trying to get through.  Our lives are different, internally and externally, due to the devastation of the pandemic.

If you are struggling to feel the Thanksgiving gratitude you have experienced in the past and you’re having difficulty, that’s ok. As a therapist, I am the first person to tell you to accept your feelings of sadness and anger. They are valid.

Me?  I don’t have to think too hard about what I am grateful for.

I am grateful to have found my place emotionally and intellectually at the wonderful, fulfilling, intense, enlightening, exhausting and creative job I have as a psychotherapist.

I am deeply thankful for all of you who are part of the community that, together, we have created and get to regularly share so honestly and open-heartedly with each other There is so much humanity among us, full of both love and light, sorrow and pain, strength and wisdom.

Thank you for the trust so many of you have placed in me when you needed to share your stories.  I am constantly reminded that what you want most is to be listened to.

Finally, let it sound like a cliché, but I am profoundly grateful for my children and how I can laugh with them until my face hurts and I am so full of joy.

Whatever feelings you have this Thanksgiving, be they gratitude, pain, or guilt, be okay with them.  I only ask one thing of you – please be mindful of others’ pain.

Wishing you a happy and healthy Thanksgiving.

Very fondly,

Deb