The Power of Gratitude

Finding Gratitude in the Midst of a Pandemic

There are few times in life when we are forced to look back on our body of work and look towards what is to come. Birthdays are definitely one that come to mind. Another is when the clock moves from 11:59pm to 12:00am every year. Did I accomplish the things that I had set out to accomplish the year prior? Was I successful? Was I kind? Did I pack into this past year something that I can be proud of?

Not sure if everyone noticed but this year was a bit…different? So many things occurred in 2020. As the night wore on and I began to have the thought process of looking back, it was so easy for me to drift into worry and morbid reflection. For me, it can happen so naturally that I look back on something that I have done and no matter if I did well; the first thought goes directly to criticism. When it came to looking back on this year, it was even more natural to look back and focus solely on everything sad that happened and to write this year off completely. When I first got sober, everyone around me who seemed to have some idea of what they were doing kept telling me “Be grateful! Practice gratitude!” My first thought? “What am I supposed to be grateful for? That I am stuck here with you, that I can’t go to work and that I’m never going to have fun again? Also, please stop being so happy.” I was in it though – I knew that I needed to change the way that I did things and these people really did seem to be genuinely happy… maybe there were onto something? Always the skeptic and wanting to do things my own way, I cautiously began practicing this thing they called “gratitude.” I started small with it as I really did not know where to begin. To my surprise, the more that I wrote down the things that I truly was grateful for, the more that I began to see more things in my day to day that I could add to that list. It was as if, by magic, my perspective changed. 

Gratitude has been proven to be effective in combatting addiction

There has been a myriad of studies on the cognitive effects of gratitude. To put it shortly, when we express gratitude, through a list or by vocalizing it, our brain releases dopamine and serotonin; two neurotransmitters that are directly responsible for our emotions. These two chemicals help us to naturally feel good from the inside and stabilize our mood in an adaptive way. 

My 2020/2021 Gratitude List

This brings me back to the final hours of 2020 and my drift away from gratitude in that moment. It is really hard to just “be grateful” and forget everything that has happened this past year. In that same breath, there are so many things to be grateful for this year. All front-line workers, teachers who adapted in order to teach students, parents who began to learn new skills in order to help their children, the plethora of people who engaged in acts of kindness to one another. The list really can go on, I just have to look for it. I have never been much for New Year’s Resolutions. However, maybe a resolution to get back to gratitude is just what I need. I will start here:

I am grateful for:-

• Being sober and being able to be present in my life and the lives of others

• Family and friends

• All of you