…Or perhaps 31 days, or maybe 28, or if it’s a leap year: 29 days. The point is that it’s a whole month of gratitude. I’ve been having an existential crisis lately (as a college student does) because I am searching for positivity in life. I have always envied those ‘Glass Half Full’ people. I envied their optimism, their cheerfulness, and their ability to smile in the face of stress. One day, while I was diligently procrastinating, I ended up on YouTube for hours watching a bunch of different TED Talks on happiness: the brain chemistry that causes it, how to get more of it, and why it seems so darn elusive most of the time. I had been trying to get myself out of this slump of school-related stress, and taking some ideas from the speeches about recognizing the good things in your life and being grateful for them, I decided to try what I call 30 days of gratitude.
All too often, we college students find ourselves buried under mountains of work. We have papers to write and exams to study for. We need to plan a time to go to our professor’s office hours at some point between class and work. We still need to schedule the interview for that summer internship and make an orthodontist appointment before we forget again. Then there’s planning for the future: making sure you’re on track for graduation, deciding if you want to go to grad school, and wondering just exactly what you want to do with your life.
It adds up to a lot. So, in order to keep myself more positive and better able to handle stress, I started writing three things that I’m grateful for every single day. Then, I put the list up on the wall so I can always see it. I’ve been doing this with Post-it Notes, and it works great. The gratitude is right there on the wall above my bed, reminding me of the great things happening in my life. I started doing this on April 1st, and what I have discovered approximately 10 days later is that it starts to get really difficult to come up with some good things to be grateful for.
You’ll probably feel the need to put the big important things first: food, shelter, clothing, etc., and then after the basics are covered, you’ll wonder: “What else is there to be grateful for?” Get creative Once you start to force yourself to find three things that make you happy every single day, you’ll start to recognize the little stuff, and those are perfect to add to your list.
Just the other day I was walking into the library and saw the cutest, tiniest bunny I had ever seen, curled against a rock. It must have been a baby, and seeing that adorable little furry thing truly just made my day. So, for my list that day I wrote: music, laughter, and cute bunnies.
It’s good to practice gratitude like this. I’m basically training my brain to think positively, so even when life is getting to be pretty stressful, I can be more optimistic, and look for the good things in life instead of the bad. I would seriously recommend that everyone try to do 30 days of gratitude. It’s okay if you don’t start on the first of the month- as long as you’re practicing gratitude, you’re on your way to becoming a Glass Half Full person.
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