Being Grateful For Who & Where You Are Now: Finding Gratitude Amongst The Grief

Recognizing the good in times of uncertainty can be seemingly impossible. 

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With anxieties high and the world enduring one of its most difficult circumstances, gratitude and remaining content with what we have at present can be easily neglected. 

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Appreciating many aspects of our lives is not a simple task, whether it be during quarantine or normalcy. The world we live in today moves far too swiftly and offers far too many opportunities for comparison to others. 

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When we take the initiative to identify what means the most to us, what we genuinely and wholeheartedly love and take pride in, we build a stable foundation on which we can only grow, learn, and shape the futures we long for. 

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Gratitude: What It Is & Why It’s Important 

Gratitude is definitely a popular word during the holiday season, and it has grown more influential throughout society in recent months. 

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Gratitude is key to creating a mentally, emotionally, and physically peaceful life.

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Remaining actively thankful is difficult; we experience countless tragedies, struggles, and conflicts throughout the course of our lives. And there is a common misconception that one must always maintain a positive and grateful mindset in order to properly practice gratitude. Allow me to enlighten you: that is utterly unrealistic and frankly, foolish. 

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Living a life with gratitude for what you enjoy does not diminish the aspects of your life that bring you grief, anxiety, anger, or whatever it may be that takes a toll on your psychological and physical welfare. 

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You are 100% entitled to your feelings, experiences, and reactions. Never allow anyone or anything to belittle what you have gone through or continue to battle. 

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Living a life with gratitude for what you enjoy is exactly that; you do not have to suppress what you hope to improve. The amount of things that you are grateful for does not determine the value of your life. 

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Genuinely and realistically practicing gratitude can vary from person to person. However, in its simplest form, practicing gratitude is distinguishing what we are thankful for, what we have grown from, learned from, and will always cherish from what we are working to accept and further improve upon. 

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What Gratitude Looks Like

Just as I said earlier, practicing gratitude varies from person to person. Simply because your thankfulness looks different than that of another, it does not mean that you are in any way incorrect. 

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What I am grateful for is not the same as what my twin brother is grateful for. Why I am grateful for a specific thing is not the same reason that my mother is grateful for that same thing. 

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We are all individualistic. We have all experienced vastly different lives. And we will all experience vastly different futures. 

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Recognizing what I am grateful for has helped me to identify what I hope to accomplish in both my high school and lifelong paths. 

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I am grateful for my education, because it has opened my eyes to the world and inspired me to one day travel throughout the globe and immerse in all possible cultures.

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I am grateful for my family and friends, because they have taught me how to love, nurture, and forgive. 

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I am grateful for my panic disorder and social anxiety, because they both have challenged me. Without them, I wouldn’t have become the student I am today; I wouldn’t have become the sister, daughter, friend, and peer I am today. I wouldn’t have this blog if it weren’t for my psychological quirks! 

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While I appreciate what I have done and how far I pushed myself beyond the fears I once thought would dictate my entire existence, I continue to recognize the pain and inconvenience my anxiety continues to cause me. 

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There is no required choice that you have to make between gratitude and reality. 

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As we enter what is sure to be a very unique holiday season, we must make it a priority to take notice of what we have been gifted with.

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There is no minimum or maximum to what you should be grateful for. All you need is the strength to recognize and celebrate the battles you have already won and make the decision to continue fighting the wars that wage on.

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Never give up.

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In light & peace,

Sofia F. -

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When you recognize the things for which you are grateful, you feed the flames of joy and peace, forever minimizing the wrath of the flames of sorrow and dissatisfaction.

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