Anyone that’s been a reader of my blog for a while will be well aware that I think gratefulness can be a great tool to stay positive, look on the bright side, and stay in a good mental space. Lists of things I’m grateful for have definitely helped keep me from getting stuck in a bad place.
With so many bad things happening around the world though, I feel like we’ve reached a point where we use gratefulness and being thankful for what we do have, to irradicate the negative sides of things.
Oh, you lost your job? Well you still have a home, so why are you sad?
Even for small, less impactful things, sometimes you just need to feel like crap and have a good cry, then come back to it and carry on trying your best. No one can be strong or happy all the time, but that’s what we’re unintentionally implying when constantly pushing being thankful for what you still have.
There are lots of situations that are made better or easier by thinking about the good things in our lives, and there are others that need to be dealt with by actually experiencing the emotions they bring rather than just internalising them and pretending everything is fine, simply because it could be worse.
I’m still going to post lists of the things I’m grateful for, and encourage others to do the same, but I’m also going to be vocal that I don’t deal with everything in life by just thinking ‘hey, at least my boyfriend is great!’ and getting over it.
-Dana
Carry on Beautiful! 