Halfway through the semester, schedules become busier, and stressful thoughts tend to take over. Between midterms, picking classes, organizing spring break plans, and all other anxiety-inducing tasks, it is easy to forget the sunnier, happier days. To cope with nerves, it is essential to remember the good in your life and everything there is to be thankful for. To practice gratitude, here are several methods to use when you need a simple pick-me-up.
reflect on what you have
One mental activity is to list out all of the great things in your life. The people you have, the memories you’ve made, or any accomplishments you are proud of are a great way to practice positivity. Another idea is to create a “Gratitude Journal,” where you can list at least three good things that have happened to you each day. To get more specific, talk about why you think they happened to better understand why you deserve good things to happen to you. If you did well on a test, think about all the hard work you put into studying. If a friend invited you to hang out and you had a great time with them, reflect on your friendship and how another person enjoys spending time with you.
If you’re looking for less of a time commitment, a fun alternative is taking pictures of your favorite memories and putting them all in a photo album for a visual representation of all the memories you’re thankful for. To take the extra step, there is an app called 1 Second Everyday that edits together a picture/video you upload from each day of the year and turns them into a single film. Either method you choose, both allow space for reflection and channeling a grateful mindset. A bonus is that if you are feeling upset in the future, you can always look back on past entries to remember the positives and cheer yourself up.
Express your gratitude
Now that you’ve thought about what you appreciate, it’s time to share it with others. These can be simple acts of texting a friend, calling up a family member, or writing an email to a professor that had a significant impact on your college experience. This is not only practicing gratitude, but it is also sharing kindness with others, making it a win-win situation! Even if it isn’t someone you have spoken to in a long time, it will make both you and the other person feel better hearing a caring message. The world is full of negativity, so it is essential to spread positive messages to people we value as often as we can. But, if you don’t feel comfortable reaching out, the act of writing a message to someone without sharing it with them can be meaningful as well. It reminds you of your appreciation for someone, which will hopefully manifest into optimistic actions towards them in the future.
picture your life without something
Another meaningful process is to imagine your life without someone or something. Oftentimes, it is so easy to glance over what you have and over-analyze the things you don’t. This is a self-destructive, negative mindset that can be changed by simply picturing a life without the good. What if you never got accepted into your college? What if you never became friends with that one person? Everything good we have comes to us for a reason, and this must always be remembered. Once you get into a routine, everything becomes the expectation and a part of our “mundane” lives. Some might say this is boring, but this is actually an amazing thing. To have a loving family, friends, food, shelter, and classes we sometimes don’t want to go to is a privilege that many others may not have. With this, we must value the ordinary and never take for granted what we have.
take it easy on yourself
Practicing gratitude also means cutting yourself some slack and learning to love yourself, faults and all. In a fast-paced, competitive world, where everyone else seems to be doing well, it’s easy to compare yourself to others and feel less accomplished. However, it is essential to remember that no one is perfect and everyone has bad days. There are days when everything feels challenging to do and it feels like nothing is going right. It is important to remember that even getting through awful days is something to be proud of. With this, you are able to let go of the unhealthy habit of studying everyone else’s lives and realize that we are all human, make human mistakes, and are all going at different paces. Although, if you do choose to fixate on someone’s life, reflect on their accomplishments and what you think they did to deserve them in order to better yourself and your decisions. Gratitude isn’t about settling for less, but about appreciating what you have while still believing in what you are capable of.
At the end of the day, life is going to throw things at you that you sometimes have no control over. Through the practice of gratitude, it helps us realize that life doesn’t need to be perfect to be meaningful. By taking the time to appreciate the opportunities we’ve been given, the people that support us, and even the strength it takes to get through difficult days, we are able to see how much we actually have. Optimism and appreciation shift our perspective from chasing more to valuing what is already present in our lives. The beauty of enough lies in understanding that happiness is not always found in bigger achievements or comparisons with others, but in the quiet appreciation of where we are, who is with us, and how far we have come.