How Actively Recognizing Your Blessings Will Change Your Life

It’s that time of the year again, when teachers ask their students to go around the room saying what they’re thankful for and everyone says friends or family. I was the kid who, when it was my turn, would dramatically pause to come up with a thoughtful answer, but ended up saying my mom like everyone else. The truth is that gratitude can be a vulnerable subject, and without reading too far into some tedious ice breaker activity, I think the relationship between people and their blessings is often unspoken. 

A while ago, I realized that in my own life, I assume there are things to be thankful for, but don’t really specify to myself what they are. Obviously I appreciated my loved ones and my good health and whatnot, but I never took the time to think deeply about it. I made it a goal for myself in 2020 to change that. I started off by buying a new notebook (a great motivator) and eventually developed a habit of jotting down a few things I was grateful for every day. Now, 11 months later, that was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. 

As a self-proclaimed “glass-half-empty” kind of person, I’ve always tended to focus on the negative parts of life. Before all of this, I would always find something to complain about, whether it was stress, sleep deprivation or the long line outside Rende. Consequently, I blamed my bad moods on external factors and would let random, superficial inconveniences ruin my entire day. Even at the beginning of my gratitude journaling, I doubted that anything would come of it. 

I shed that uncertainty almost immediately when I realized that I had been self-sabotaging myself. I was starting to see how I was creating a negative environment by constantly picking out the things that made me unhappy. I was so consumed with thoughts of my shortcomings and the powers above working against me that I internalized all of that bad energy. 

By choosing to focus on the positive moments instead of the not-so-positive, I unknowingly rewired the way I saw my life. Actively thinking about what I’m grateful for and writing down my blessings helped me to see that, among all the reasons to be sad or anxious, there are more reasons to be joyous and optimistic. Sometimes I feel really thankful for a specific person or event that occurred earlier in the day, so I’ll spend the night writing about them; other times, the only thing I can muster is being thankful for the burrito I had for lunch or the nice sunset. It may seem trivial, but acknowledging the smallest of wins can remind you that even on the worst days, there is more to life than struggle and sadness. There are always reasons to be hopeful for the future, even if the future holds just one more good meal or one more pretty sky.

For me, having my blessings written down on something tangible is the best way to reflect. I also like to have them compiled in the same place so I can look back on them and remind myself to be appreciative of everything I can. There are still times when I feel myself spiraling and, quite frankly, sinking into a hole of self-pity. But, by focusing on even just one good thing that happened that day, I sleep a little better at night. Whether you’re like me or you actually have control of your emotions, I encourage you to find a method of practicing gratitude that works best for you. Then, I hope you do it all the time because being thankful for the little things, as little as they may be, will reassure you that at the end of the day, it’s a good life.

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