Gratitude For The Tough Stuff

As we approach Thanksgiving next week, gratitude is on my mind.

While the origins of this holiday are not as simple as I learned as a kid, I like to think of Thanksgiving as a day to focus on gratitude & giving thanks.

There's a lot to be said about the link between gratitude and happiness.

We hear a lot about utilizing a gratitude practice to get THROUGH the tough times in life, but what about gratitude FOR the tough times?

If that made you internally cringe a bit, hang with me here...

I'm talking about the tough situations that can feel awful & painful to go through, and on the other side of them, you become a better person somehow because of them.

If you ask someone who you view as powerful about their story of what made them who they are today, you will likely hear a story (or many stories) about the hard things that they have been through.

You will usually hear a story about how going through some tough stuff in their life forced them to grow into the person that they are today.

Tough circumstances in life might force you to:

To practice courage & be more brave.

To seek the support you really need and be more comfortable in doing that moving forward.

To learn different viewpoints & expand how you view the world.

To learn new tools to utilize for the rest of your life.

To take better care of yourself.

To face parts of you that need work and to do the work, even when it's hard.

To break old unhealthy patterns.

To gain confidence & strength in yourself that you can overcome anything else that comes your way in life.

This list could go on & on....

I've been going through some tough stuff lately that has been uncomfortable to navigate.

It hasn't been easy to find a place of gratitude for what I've been feeling lately, but I have.

The uncomfortable circumstances have made me look at lifelong patterns of mine that have not been serving me, and that I'm ready to work on changing.

it's made me dig into where those patterns come from so I can work to unravel them.

it's made me seek extra support to do this work.

It's made me make some promises to myself in how I move forward.

While It can feel challenging for me to feel grateful for feeling uncomfortable, when I acknowledge the growth that I know is happening through this uncomfortable time, I can be grateful for sitting in the discomfort.

Let me ask you - what are some tough things that you have gone through in life, that you know helped shape who you are in a good way?

Can you be thankful for having gone through the tough stuff?

It can feel almost impossible in the moment - in the middle of something that feels painful, to be grateful for it.

Reminding yourself of things you have been through and learned from in the past can help.

Is there something tough that you are going through now?

How can you tap into gratitude for this?

How do you see yourself growing through this tough circumstance?

How can you envision yourself being a better person on the other side of it?

With Love, 

Shelly