Although most of us have experienced a different world for most of 2020; our lives, feelings, thoughts and experiences are different. We all look at life through a different lens. Gratitude heals and brings feelings of peace. We can’t be angry when we are grateful for our lives. Gratitude brings us to the present and lets us forget those feelings of anxiety and depression for a little while. With gratitude, we acknowledge we have valuable things right now that bring joy to our everyday lives.
Like any other habit, gratitude needs to be developed and nurtured. Every time we acknowledge the beautiful things around us and thank for them, we start healing and our confidence gets stronger.
Small and simple things are the key to make the habit easy to stick to. Big activities like a dream vacation, a business opportunity or buying a new car are also things to be grateful for. Realistically, big events like these take months or years to be achieved; while simple things happen in our lives every day. Being thankful for small things does not mean conforming or get stuck in the present. Beware of that.
2020 brought many days of boredom for many. Life is hard for everyone one way or another. Once we accept this fact we become less judgemental with other people and, most importantly, with ourselves.
Don’t make it complicated, start writing down the first thing that comes to your mind. Use bullet points. Take my gratitude example and adjust it to your life and surroundings:
Gratitude for 2020
I am grateful for:
- All the days I spent at home playing with my son.
- Saving money because I did not travel as planned in early 2020.
- Saving money because I brewed all my morning coffees at home.
- All the extra time in my hands because I was able to plan and build a fence in my backyard.
- All the extra time in my hands because I was able to declutter multiple areas in my house.
- The fact that I now look forward to going grocery shopping.
- The extra time in my hands because I was able to be more effective working from home and reaching a new role at work.
- All the extra time in my hands because I was able to do a few months of therapy to heal some parts of myself.
- A great partner in my life to hang out with under the same roof every single day.
- Science because some companies were able to create a vaccine for Covid-19 prevention.
- Technology because I was able to hear and see family and friends who live very far away.
I can’t think of anything else right now. I usually keep my journal around to add things randomly when they come to my mind. You should try it!
