Are You Grateful?

100 days ago I was super stressed. I was running a business, raising two small kids (almost 5 years old and 1.5 years old at the time) and not taking any time for myself. Everything felt like too much, I was grumpy and I was dwelling on the negative all the time. I started looking for something small that I could do everyday with only a few minutes to remind myself that life is actually pretty good. I stumbled across a gratitude journal app and started using it. It doesn’t matter which one there’s quite a few of them if you look, or good old paper works too.

At first I thought it would be a bit woo-wooy, but I’ve been presently surprised that I’m really enjoying filling out my 3 things nightly and starting to feel a lot happier. Some days I only manage to write down one or two things, and a few days I‘ve had 5 or 6. It’s been nice taking 5-10 minutes before bed to think about the events of the day. It has even become easier to recall all the good things in life when I need reminding. It would seem it’s not just me seeing a benefit from cultivating gratitude, just a quick search of “feeling grateful” or “gratefulness” will bring up dozens of articles and research pieces on the benefit of gratefulness on ones mental health and wellbeing.

Sometimes when we’re stressed and overwhelmed making any sort of change, however positive, can just seem like too big a task to even try. But I’ve found this such an easy and positive change that I’m now starting to think about what other additions I can incorporate into my day. So if you’re looking for something small to try in your life to help you feel a little less stressed why not try a gratitude journal?