How to Feel and Practice Gratitude - Even When You're Sad or Depressed
Feeling grateful isn't always easy when you're going through it and you feel like the world is crumbling under your feet. Worse yet, sometimes you can even feel guilty for feeling bad or depressed because you KNOW you have so much to be grateful for and that there are people in worse situations in the world. However, adding guilt to an already negative emotion isn't exactly a recipe for success.
And this is why we're going to talk about how to feel grateful even when you're sad today. See it is possible to feel two "opposing" emotions at the same time as one doesn't directly have to affect the other.
On TikTok currently, there's a trending video of mothers expressing how they miss the version of themselves prior to having kids. Missing who you were doesn't equal not being happy with who you are. In other words, you can be super grateful for your children, AND simultaneously miss the days when sleeping in was a thing, when you could afford to be "carefree" because you weren't responsible for a WHOLE human being. (Side note: any form of mom-shaming just needs to stop. Parenting is hard enough).
Don’t Fight Your Emotions
And this leads us to the first way of being grateful while sad, accept the negative emotion. Trying to suppress an emotion in a way just compounds it as it's "trapped" within without any release. It's ok to have a moment. You're not required to be happy-go-lucky 24/7. Being ok, with not being ok allows one to then be open to other emotions as well. It's simply one of your truths. Accepting that allows you to put the energy you would've exerted fighting that emotion, on embracing other emotions and truths instead. Like being grateful for "XYZ".
Don’t Stay Cooped Up
Another way to feel grateful while sad is to take the focus off yourself and reach out to someone else. We don't mean in a self-denial kind of way, or a "there are children starving in the world" type of way either. But rather just reach out and lend a hand to a friend, family, or even a charity or church.
We know, when you're sad, laying in bed all day with a tub of ice cream sounds like the ideal plan of action, but we're going to encourage you to push through that emotion (not the being sad emotion), get out of the house, and be of service. We're sure you've seen or heard someone say "this is exactly what I needed" after being forced out of the house by a friend attempting to cheer you up.
Thing is, unless it's something obvious, like a bad breakup, our friends may not always realize that we're in a funk. And if that's the case, you're going to have to force yourself out of the house. Don't let that inner voice convince you that you'll only be "bad company" so might as well stay in. It's a lie cause first of all you don't know what mood you'll be in once you actually get out and meet your friends. And there's your first thing to feel grateful about, your friends (or family or church). Whoever it is that you decide to show up for.
Don’t Forget
The last to feel grateful while sad is having a gratitude journal to read through about the things you wrote down in the past. This isn’t only a great reminder, but chances are many of those things still apply today. If you've never given gratitude journaling a try, we wrote all about it here and highly recommend you give it a try.
In summary:
It's ok to NOT be ok
Two opposing truths don't have to cancel each other out. You can be sad, yet happy/grateful for "XYZ"
Take the focus off yourself by being of service to someone else
Keep a gratitude journal
We hope you find these tips useful, and remember, sad days don't last. You'll come out on the other side. ♥
'Til tomorrow,
Grace & Peace!