I’ve been trying to make gratitude a part of my life for a few years now. It used to come very easy to me, especially during the times when I was particularly religious, but also young; not so much anymore. I now have to make active efforts to find what I am grateful for, and use that feeling to give myself a boost forward. To appreciate more.
I partly blame it on growing up and becoming busy. With so many things needing to be taken care of on a daily basis, it is hard to take that little bit of time off to look around you and feel thankful. I can’t help but think it’s got to do with my mental health, as well: when I was at my lowest, I didn’t have resources to spare in order to actively express my gratitude. All in all, gratitude is a habit I lost my grasp on, one I am trying my best to bring back into my life now.
Because it’s Holidays’ time and there’s a certain pleasant atmosphere all around us, one I struggle to adhere to – but more on that in an upcoming blog post – I thought I’d take my time to let the Christmas spirit in and try a little gratitude exercise. And if you struggle to show how grateful you are for what you have, or to feel grateful at all, you should try this exercise along with me! It’s short, sweet and, I’d like to think, efficient.
Making a goal out of listing ten things you are grateful for every single day is easier said than done. We are gratitude rookies, so we’re going to stick to three.
These three reasons for feeling grateful have to be specific, though. Today, we will name…
… a thing that we are grateful for that is out of our power/control.
For me that would be my health, physical and mental alike. I am grateful for the amount of health I’ve been given, and the resilience I’ve been equipped with to deal with the shortcomings of my health.
I am grateful for being alive and breathing. I am grateful for waking up in the mornings to face a brand new day, and for going to sleep at night to get well-deserved rest.
I am grateful for growing up to be the person that I am today. I am grateful for the state of my body, for its strength and balance, for the way I look like naked in a mirror. I am grateful for the way my body’s taking me places, for the way it allows me to learn and develop into the person I’ve always wanted to be.
I am grateful for the way my spine’s responded to medical exercise. I am grateful for the way my mind’s responded to therapy.
I am grateful for my accessory spleen. Hell, I am even grateful for my lactose intolerance.
… a thing that we are grateful for that somebody else did for us.
This will probably get cheesy, but that’s okay. Gratitude is cheesy in a way.
I am grateful for the Fallout series, my favourite games of all-time. I am grateful to my partner, for buying me my first Fallout game and for letting me play it on his console, and I am grateful to one of my best friends, who introduced me to the compelling story of this franchise and taught me how to play, and was patient with me when I struggled.
I am grateful to the creators of this story, the teams behind every single instalment. An overwhelming creative force has been put in each game, and I can’t begin to imagine how much that took and the sacrifices each of the participants in this collective effort made to reach this brilliant end result.
I genuinely had an amazing time playing these games. A lot of frustration, but also a lot of adrenaline and fun, and powerful emotions every now and then. It’s become one of my dearest hobbies, it ignited my passion for video games when it was still dormant, and it is still one of the pastimes that I turn to when I want to unwind after a day of work. It’s helped my mental health when I was struggling, and it’s taken me through probably the worst summer of my life.
I am grateful for witnessing this story unfold, and I am grateful for supporting it in the process.
… a thing that we are grateful for that we did for ourselves.
When we decide to show gratitude, we often become the very person we neglect in listing all the things and people that we are thankful for. And although that makes a bit of sense – since what we usually seek when we actively express gratitude is to remind ourselves how many good things exist in our lives – that doesn’t mean it’s also fair.
In fact, I believe that by thanking myself for something, I take the chance to acknowledge a good thing that I’ve done, and that also has a positive impact on my self-esteem.
In that regard, I am grateful for choosing to work hard. Working in spite of not feeling like it, in spite of my fear of failure and in spite of people’s attempts to discourage me. I am grateful for studying and getting myself into a good university. I am grateful for choosing to embark on a life-long educational journey. I am grateful for giving myself the opportunity to learn new things every day and develop myself further, as a person and as a student alike.
I am grateful for working part-time alongside my degree. I am grateful for investing time, energy and passion in my work and doing my best to achieve my goals in that space.
I am grateful for creating and writing. I am grateful for owning and writing this blog for a year and a half. I am grateful for putting my poetry up online and sharing my craft with others. I am grateful for using my entire last summer to put together and self-publish my debut book of poetry. I am grateful for using my free time to pursue my creative endeavours.
Most of the time, I actually lack the motivation to do all of these things. Many have told me they admire how I can stay productive and motivated all the time but the truth is, I very seldom feel like this and in fact, many of these things – such as getting into university, getting my first part-time job or starting this blog – were done when I was really struggling with my mental health.
For a lot of these things, I ground and I put in all I had to keep going. And although it certainly felt like hell then, I am grateful that I’ve done all of these things, and I keep doing them now.
To do this gratitude exercise yourself, download my Gratitude Worksheet (available here) and complete each of the prompts! Make it a habit for yourself to write down three things you are grateful for every now and then: it could be every day, every week or every month. Tailor this practice to your needs, and witness the wonderful impact gratitude will have on your life! I sure feel a bit better after writing this post.
(Created using Canva.)
This is the last post I am putting up before Christmas, so all I can say is Happy Holidays! I do have another post coming up on the 27th of December, related to the holidays as well so keep an eye out for that!
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