There’s a lot of hype around gratitude and I have to be honest; I didn’t really pay attention to it until I was going through a tough period in my life and (true story), I was forced to take a workshop on gratitude at a conference I was a part of. The workshop started with the moderator explaining some of the research and then asking us to pick someone in our lives to write a thank you note to. I rolled my eyes and sat with my blank note card for a long time. Seeing some of the reluctant faces in the room, she said “you don’t ever have to send it if you don’t want to; just write it.” So I did. I wrote it to a friend who helped me a lot over the years without probably even realizing it. I was surprised by how good it made me feel.
I left the workshop less skeptical and through the years, I’ve adopted some of my own that help me use gratitude and service to feel more at peace in my own life. I’m not trying to convince you to adopt toxic positivity, but here are some ways you use the power of gratitude to help manage overwhelm and shift your mindset.
- Write that thank you note. Instead of scrolling on your phone for 5 minutes, think about someone who has impacted your life and write them a thank you text, email, or (gasp!) card. You don’t have to send it but you probably will in the end (I did).
- At dinner time or before bed, find 1-3 things you are grateful for in the day. After the workshop, I forced this on my family and we still do it to this day when we are together. They don’t have to be big things; on a bad day this will be really hard. But if you are going to find the bad, you also owe it to yourself to find the good.
- If you have a setback, find a learning, and tell yourself you’re grateful to have learned it. For example, I once had a boss that I clashed with a lot. I learned what I did NOT want to be as a leader, and to this day, I’m grateful I had that experience because it made me a better leader in the end.
- Give back if you are able. This can be a box of pasta to a food drive at the office, a volunteer day, or a monetary donation to a local charity; there are a million ways. You will be grateful you were able to help another, and most likely feel grateful you are able to help.
- Take a moment to breathe, go outside for 5 minutes, or do some stretching. Tell yourself you’re grateful for the pause.
You can build some or all of these into your week. It’s a subtle change but I think you will find yourself less overwhelmed and more resilient. Find me on Instagram at @LaurieGery & DM me what you are trying this week!
