Throwback: Gratitude is easy when life is good
This Thanksgiving, I’m revisiting a Sweet Dumb Brain classic.
Hi friends,
It's Thanksgiving week for those of us in the United States. While I acknowledge the dark history of this holiday—it was not a celebratory feast between Pilgrims and Indians, as popular culture would like us to believe—I still love the way we spend the day. Gathering with loved ones to share a home-cooked meal and focus on gratitude is so pure. It’s something I wish we did more year-round.
Instead of writing something new this week, I decided to revisit an old newsletter. This essay was originally published on November 21, 2018—issue 12 of My Sweet Dumb Brain. (For context, you’re currently reading issue 143!) At the time, this newsletter was brand new; my grief over losing Jamie was much more fresh and raw; and holidays like Thanksgiving were still incredibly hard to face.
This was one of my favorite early issues and, while it’s pretty short and sweet, I think it stands the test of time. But I’ll let you decide for yourself. I hope you enjoy it and that the rest of your week is filled with whatever gratitude you can find.
Things have been tough lately. It feels like I’ve been thrown back into the days of early grief—where every morning presents a battle to get out of bed, every solo car ride results in sobbing, every moment spent on social media leads to self-torture, and every night offers a spiral of negative thoughts. It’s been a blast!
I can’t quite pinpoint what exactly is causing this emotional turmoil, but I have a few theories:
Losing an hour of sunlight.
Good ol’ PMS.
Just grief?
The holiday season!
Chances are, my overwhelming sadness is a result of all of the above. It helps to be able to identify what’s causing my brain to feel like a giant, angry, dark cloud of doom, but that doesn’t change the fact that the cloud is still there. My challenge now is to remember that my negative thoughts aren’t reality, to maintain the healthy habits and behaviors that keep me functioning, and—let’s keep the metaphor going—to believe that the sun will return soon enough.
Whether or not you’re battling with PMS and grief, the double whammy of daylight saving time ending and the holiday season beginning can have an adverse effect on many of us. To make matters worse, feeling down during this time of year just seems wrong—there’s guilt lurking around every corner. How could I feel so lonely when I’m surrounded by family? Why can’t I just be happy when I see everyone else’s joyful holiday photos? Why do I feel so sad when I’m supposed to feel thankful?
When life feels especially hard, being grateful can seem like a Herculean act. Being reminded that you’re supposed to be thankful can make the struggle to find gratitude even harder. But, I’m here to gently encourage you (and remind myself) that it works.
As annoying as it might be to read yet another thankfulness guilt-trip, bear with me: Gratitude saved me last year. Sometimes I kept a daily gratitude journal; other times, I’d force myself to make a mental list of things I was grateful for instead of falling deeper into a rut of self-pity. It took lots of patience and practice, but the regular routine of thankfulness helped me heal immeasurably. There are plenty of studies to support this, too.
Lately for me, practicing gratitude requires some mental gymnastics. I find myself expressing thanks for things that require significant caveats.
I’m grateful that my dad died when he did, because losing him helped prepare me for losing Jamie. I’m grateful that Jamie died while running a race, because I was close by and able to be with him immediately. I’m grateful that I went on so many bad dates last year, because they helped me to identify what I was looking for in a partner. And so on and so on.
When you’re in a tough spot, your mind tends to dwell on negative things. At least mine does; it wants to roll around in negative self-talk and thoughts all day long. But even amid all that negativity—after lots of tears, why-mes, and desperate texts to friends—I can eventually find something to feel thankful for.
I think of it as silver-lining gratitude. That dark, angry cloud remains stubbornly perched over my brain, but there’s still something good to acknowledge. There always is.
So, let me reframe my current mental state: I’m grateful that things have been hard, because I can write about the experience and feel a lot less alone in the process.
That actually helps! I wouldn’t mind less car sobbing, though.
xoxo KHG
p.s. Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends! Please take care of yourselves, and know that, if you are struggling, you are definitely not alone. I’m very thankful for all of you.
💖 Sharing is caring
Thank you, Kari! It means so much to me how much last week’s newsletter—and particularly this line—resonated with readers. I like to think that we all gave ourselves permission to set down those sorrows, even for a brief moment.
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