Last year, a woman I know gave me a gratitude journal.
It was a gift — a lovely follow-up to a conversation we’d had about her personal experience documenting her moments of gratitude every single day. So I tried it.
It didn’t go well.
You’re probably wondering how you can suck at being grateful, but I can tell you, it is possible. I’ve been there.
Because every night when I’d climb into bed and pull out the journal, I looked at it as an obligation — another thing I had to do before the day was done when, really, I just wanted to read my book or turn out the light. A sort of, “Damnit, now I have to be grateful” moment in my day.
Something told me that wasn’t the point.
So I put it down. Forgot about it — and took my sweet time scheduling another lunch with the woman who gave it to me, for fear that she’d ask me how all that gratitude had changed my life, too.
But a few weeks ago, I started thinking about it again. About what I would write if I didn’t just feel obligated. About what I’m really grateful for — and what would happen if I took the time to notice it.
Now that we’ve entered our national month of thanks, I’m giving it another go. I’m committing to focus on one thing every day that I’m grateful for, and to keep myself honest, I’m also committing to documenting.
Follow @bravecontent on Instagram, and check out our stories every day for a quick dose of gratitude.
It occurs to me as I write this that I’ve created another obligation for myself — albeit a social media version — but maybe this time around, with a different approach and a bad gratitude experience to draw from, I’ll start to see the documentation of gratitude a little differently.
Who knows — maybe I’ll even be grateful for the habit.