Gratitude unites us
Sometimes it’s oh-so-easy.
To wallow, to sink, to examine your life, your current situation, your relationship, your whatever through the Murphy’s Law lens of life. It’s easy to get stuck, to feel like you’re at the bottom, to feel fucked.
But it all always leads to one thing: more of that feeling. It sucks your energy down and out and all it does is pull you lower, deeper, down, down, down. Until sometimes you can hardly remember what up even means anymore.
That shit happens.
Gratitude can be hard.
It can feel like dragging your feet through the mud, losing your footing with each step, no-flashlight-in-the-dark, ‘I can’t get out of bed today’ hard. Not always, but when it is, boy do you feel it. It comes in, covers everything in it’s path, in your life and makes you believe the darkest, dirtiest lies about your life, your situation, yourself.
Here’s the thing, though.
Gratitude never does that.
It never drags you deeper. Anytime you call on it, it sparks a light, fills those empty spaces, those dark corners, those shitty feelings. It leaves you wanting more, more, more.
I’ve had a rough time and I’ve been struggling lately with finding things, moments, reasons to be grateful.
They’re always there, I’ve just been too busy getting stuck in my own woe to take the time to notice them.
Recently, when a friend asked me what I feel grateful for, I’ll admit my initial reaction was a bit of panic. “Grateful? Right now? Today? Nothing!”
But then I really started to think about it. And the reasons to be grateful came pouring in.
Today, I’m grateful for reminders that I am human.
I am fallible, I struggle (we all struggle), I fall, I fuck up (we all fuck up), I cry (a lot). I remember that being human means all of this.
I’m grateful for you, reading this now, whether you’re having a shitty day, a great day, you’re having a day and so am I.
I’m grateful for the knowing that I am not in this alone, even when going through my own struggles. We’re all in this together.
Gratitude unites us, all of us.
So: what are you grateful for?