Gratefulness as an Antidote to Anxiety

A bit of a late post this month, but I hope you find this piece useful.

We tend to worry a lot. This is because we are always seeking something, to achieve something, to solve a problem, to become something.

All of this is driven by our natural human desire to be ambitious and to achieve success in all we do.

However, this natural desire can become a monster if we do not balance it with the art of daily gratefulness.

And gratefulness begins with awareness, awareness of the good things happening in our reality, and awareness of how fortunate we are to have what we have, or of what is currently working.

It is easy to overlook what we have and the things that are working out for us. It is easy to forget everything else and focus on the one thing we have not gotten yet.

But that is the irony of it. When we form the habit of forgetting every other thing that is going well for us and focus only on the missing elements, somehow the missing element overshadows everything else.

Our default mindset and emotional state become dominated by that one unavailable thing, and this, in turn, affects our body, the chemicals in our brain, and how we feel overall.

If that mood is not interrupted by a conscious refocus on what works, on what makes us appreciative and grateful, we can find ourselves becoming sad, anxious, and emotionally drained almost all the time.

I know there are scientific and medical reasons why people may experience mood disorders, persistent anxiety, or deep sadness, and I would not claim to be an authority on the subject.

I simply feel that if we take responsibility for our minds and where we place our focus, and if this becomes a habit, it can greatly influence our mood, our well-being, and our general outlook on life.

Of course, this does not replace the need to take care of yourself, build meaningful connections, have a supportive community of family or friends, exercise, eat healthy, and all of that. It is all part of it.

But there is also a part of it, I believe, that has to do with taking responsibility for your own mind, where you focus it, and forming the habit of redirecting and refocusing your thoughts when you find yourself leaning too much toward anxiety or sadness.

A daily practice I use, which works for me, is that once I wake up, the first thing I do is express my gratefulness in words.

I am grateful that I woke up in a sound state of mind and body, something I did not consciously will.

I am grateful for what currently works in my life. Grateful for the situations I find myself in, and even for things I once thought were negative but later turned out to be for my good.

And the list keeps going.

I do this for about five to ten minutes, and it creates a great start to my day and my outlook. As I go through my day, I find other things I am grateful for randomly.

It could be that the sun is out and shining brightly. It could be that my shower still works fine, or that my stove is not faulty. It could be anything.

But it is an art and a practice which, if you become used to it, can greatly help protect you from our human tendency to become fixated on what is not yet there or what is not yet working.

As humans, we will constantly be striving toward something. But we must be careful not to make what we are striving toward the sole object of our attention, because that can lead to anxiety and burnout.

It is okay to build practices that help us appreciate what we already have, even as we remain ambitious for more.

It is okay that we do not have everything we aspire toward immediately.

It is okay to look forward to something, but you must also learn to be happy while looking forward to it.

And the way I believe helps most with that is staying appreciative and aware of what has worked, and what is working, even as we continue to hope for more.

Stay grateful and keep winning!

-Ike