The Husband Gratitude List

I’m continuing the countdown of our Top 20 posts while counting down the days to our Club’s 5th anniversary on February 4th (and the unveiling of the new HappyWivesClub.com site).

Yesterday’s post, #20 on our list, broke the internet! Well, technically not the internet but it certainly broke our site. We have a pretty robust server and our server went down five times in two hours.

Our 19th most popular post was originally written in August 2013 and got a ton of media coverage across Europe, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa when a reporter from The Times London said something snarky about it in their Sunday edition.

After The Times story, I found myself defending the Husband Gratitude List on and I’m so happy I did! I still love writing down the reasons I am grateful for that wonderful husband of mine and I hope you’ll enjoy doing it (in part, for the reasons listed below) just as much.

Until tomorrow…make it a great day!

____________

Have you ever written a list of the special qualities and characteristics that make your husband special?  What about keeping a journal of all the wonderful things he does for you throughout each week?

I began a husband gratitude list (which I called the Why I Love My Husband never-ending list) toward the end of last year and highly recommend it!

What I quickly discovered was what I once viewed as ordinary became extraordinary when thought about intentionally throughout each day.

The little things I might have taken for granted in the past -taking out the trash, straightening up the house, taking my car in to be serviced- all became things that filled my heart with gratitude.

One of the greatest benefits of keeping a husband gratitude list is it serves as a constant reminder of what makes your hubby so wonderfully awesome.  Why, out of all the men in the world, you chose to marry him.  

During those times when his imperfections glare brighter than his attributes, you can simply flip open your journal and look at your gratitude list to be reminded that your marriage is bigger than that moment.

A gratitude list is simple to compile.  All you have to do is begin.  You can include something as overarching as, “He loves me exactly as I am…not for who I may one day become,” which was the very first entry on my list.

You can also write down specific things he did earlier in the day like, “He spent hours organizing my desk that I’d allowed to become overrun with notes and random pieces of paper,” No. 46 on my list.

Although my list is quite long now, I thought I’d share a small section of it to encourage you to begin your own.  I promise, it does wonders for keeping your perspective right…especially, during those times when your husband falls short of perfect. (After all, every one of us has flaws, right?)

1. He is my biggest fan.

2. He never looks to point out what I’ve done wrong or the err of my ways.  He looks for how he can build me up and make me feel great about what I do right.

3. He buys me bottles of every kind of water except Aquafina and Dasani (the two he knows I don’t like).

4. He texts me if a meeting is running later than he anticipated so I know to expect his call soon.

5. He is the most loyal person I’ve ever known.

6. When I travel on business, he always gives me 1,001 reasons to want to come home.

7. He’s a strong man when it comes to the rest of the world but a complete softy when it comes to me.

8. When he picked me up at the airport this week, we walked out with me holding no bags and him holding three.  No matter how I tried to help, he simply wanted to take care of me.

9. He gets dressed for the gym early in the morning, in the dark, so I can continue to get some rest.

10. He likes his coffee black, I’m a white coffee kind of girl, and thus he makes sure our home is never without Coffeemate and Splenda.

Begin your husband gratitude list today and add to it as often as possible.  The real fun comes in when you begin looking for things to add to your list.  You will be amazed at how many wonderful things he does you may have otherwise overlooked.  And if your husband is anything like mine, you’ll soon realize there aren’t enough thank yous in the world.

QUESTION: If you were to begin your husband gratitude list right now, what would be the first 5 things on your list?

We’re SO close to our goal! JOIN THE 1,000,000 MEMBER CHALLENGE: If you haven’t already done it, what are you waiting for? Join the club! It takes only a few seconds and, of course, is free.

THE NEW YORK TIMES® BEST-SELLING BOOK: It’s been described as, “Like Eat, Pray, Love but not down on marriage.” Make sure to check out the Happy Wives Club book.  I had the great honor of traveling to 12 countries on 6 continents, interviewing couples happily married 25 years or more, with 1 mission only: to find out what makes marriages happy…and keeps them that way.  It’s a marriage book like none other.  Guaranteed.

• Bio
• Latest Posts

Fawn Weaver

Founder at Happy Wives Club

Fawn Weaver is the USA Today® and New York Times® bestselling author of Happy Wives Club: One Woman's Worldwide Search for the Secrets of a Great Marriage, adopting the same name as the Club she founded in 2010. The Happy Wives Club community has grown to include more than 900,000 women in over 110 countries around the world. When she’s not blogging or working on her next project, she's happily doting over her husband of nearly eleven years, Keith.

Latest posts by Fawn Weaver (see all)

• 5 Special Gifts for National Husband’s Day - January 21, 2015
• 6 Easy Ways to Exceed Your Spouse’s Expectations - January 20, 2015
• Two Great Questions You Should Ask Your Husband…Today - January 19, 2015