Modern Day Gratitude

Guys, this one has been something that I have reflected on A LOT lately.

There is a growing awareness of mental health, which is great. But sometimes it can feel overwhelming. As in, we have tried so hard to overcompensate for the lack of mental health awareness that we’ve done damage in other ways.

Sometimes I feel like all I see is the narrative around mental health-the darkness of it. That I have to stop and go- wait, why does everything seem so..bleak? (also this is coming from someone who has struggled with my own mental health).

So stay with me. We sometimes have this darkness around us, right? Everything is soo bad…but then I go, is it? Look around the world we live in. We have air conditioning, drinking water, clean streets, showers, and everything we could ever want to buy at the grocery store, no matter the season. We no longer know true (I mean, fighting daily for our physical life) struggle. I think about 200 years ago… those times to live in…I can’t even imagine.

Yet here we are, struggling on a different kind of frontier. We have worked so hard as a society to create an easier life, more leisure time. I think it has also perhaps backfired in ways we weren’t prepared for. We have created so much space that the battle of the mind now takes over. We think we have it so bad…But I wouldn’t trade my spot on this timeline to live in one from the past, I just wouldn’t.

I think part of rescuing your(my own) mental health is through the simple act and practice of gratitude. I mean, being thankful that I can take a shower daily, that I have power, that I have a car that I can get in and drive to Publix and get literally whatever I want. How amazing is this? I think we forget that not long ago, we were struggling to survive. And we forget that the life we live was built on the hard work, sweat, and blood of our ancestors. 

The thing we didn’t prepare for was on the front of our minds, that our minds would now have sooo much time. To think. To self-sabotage, to wonder…which can sometimes take us down those dark paths. But rooting yourself in gratitude for how amazing things actually are has brought me a grounding peace that I can genuinely hold onto, and I can think, “Okay, it’s really not that bad.” Then implement the thanks that this life truly deserves.

I do think mental health is so important. One of the most vital roots that must take place for this to happen is the practice of gratitude in our daily lives, not reserved solely for life’s occasional, monumental moments.