28 Nov Finding Gratitude in Your Struggles

This blog post was written by Recovery Help Now’s, Vanessa Blaxland, MFTi.

We have all had times in our lives where we feel a deep sense of gratitude.  Things are going well and we are thankful for our good fortune.  Maybe our friends and family are healthy, our job and relationships are fulfilling, and our problems in life seem to be at a minimum.  Life is good.  During these times you probably feel a great sense of appreciation for life. And while it is very important to be grateful during the good times, lets face it, its much easier seeing what we can be grateful for during the high times than when we are in the middle of the low times.  In the middle of a crisis one of the last things you might want to do is look on the bright side.  Many times I see that people have a hard time recognizing what they can be grateful for when everything around them is crumbling.  So how can we have gratitude even when we are in crisis?

Simple, be grateful for the trial itself.  I know it might seem backwards and strange but think about it.  When have you learned the most in life? Probably when you have gone through a rough patch and come out of it stronger and wiser.  Hard times often push us to grow, learn, build character, and even lead us to opportunities we might otherwise have missed out on.  So even though it might feel like you are going against everything your intuition tells you, find gratitude in your struggles and hold on to what you will gain when the hard times have passed.