Written By: Chelsie Napiza
Photo by Roberto Nickson
Retrieved from Unsplash
It’s easy to get caught up in our fast-paced lives.
I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels like time has stopped working since the pandemic started. It’s September, yet it sometimes feels like I’m suspended in June, the salty taste of the sea still lingering in my lips. This year has been chaotic, exhausting, and demanded every shred of patience, compassion and sanity we have in us that we forgot how to be thankful.
Scientific research by Emmons & McCullough, Bartlett & DeSteno, and Sheldon & Lyubomirski (read more here) showed that expressing gratitude is strongly associated with happiness, and they’re not lying. Here’s a breakdown of how it works: there are different ways in which you can express your gratitude; you can talk to a friend about it or say it to yourself in a mirror. And my favorite? Writing it down.
I’m not going to lie, the first time I tried this exercise, I felt a sense of awkwardness. I didn’t know what to write and it kinda frustrated me . The thing though, is that I was thinking of something big and something tangible when it doesn't always have to be like that.
We can be thankful for so many things that we’ve overlooked in the past, like having a roof above our heads, for the life of our pets, or even for a commercial that made us laugh. It doesn’t have to be grand. Sometimes, the most insignificant and mundane things we do everyday are also the things we can be grateful for if we choose to look at them that way.
Imagine how much richer our lives will be if we’re more grateful and appreciative of the things (both big and small) we have. Look around you and notice that despite everything, you’re here, you’re alive, and that’s more than enough to be grateful for.
Today, I’m thankful that I get to share my words with you.
What’s something you’re grateful for today?
this article is v important to keep in mind <3 i'm grateful for my friends and being able to meet so many cool people online