We can’t lie, times are tough for everyone. Whether you’re getting bogged down with politics, coronavirus, or literally just life in general, it’s perfectly normal to feel like you’re struggling with your mental health.
You’re probably feeling fed up and like you’ve tried loads of things to make it better which haven’t worked.
However, we want to know, have you tried a gratitude diary? If not, here are all the great things you need to know about them ☺
What is gratitude?
In a nutshell, gratitude basically means being thankful and ready to show your appreciation for absolutely ANYTHING.
What are the benefits of gratitude?
Psychologists have been researching gratitude diaries for years now and the studies often suggest they may play a part in:
- Improving your mood and making you happier overall
- Making you feel more connected to people
- Giving you a more positive outlook on life
What is a gratitude diary and how do I do it?
So, are you still interested? If so, great! Gratitude diaries are really easy to keep and people all over the world love them.
To keep a gratitude diary, every day or every couple of days, you can make a list of at least two/three things that you’re grateful for. You can write this down or keep it in your head, heck, you could even draw them!
People usually find it best to do this at the end of the day. You can write down just a short sentence if you like (people tend to find it easier when they keep it short!). If you want to do more, you could write down why you are grateful for whatever you’ve listed.
When you’re listing what you’re grateful for, try to write down different things each time. You might find this easy at first, but as time goes on, you’ll probs find it harder. The aim of writing different things is that you have to really dig deep to see what you’re thankful for.
By doing this, we begin to notice and appreciate more and more positive things. For example, at the beginning, you might say more general things like ‘I’m grateful for my family’ and ‘I’m grateful for my friends’, and then, as time goes on, you might focus on really small things like ‘I’m grateful that I didn’t stand on that snail on the way to school’ and ‘I’m glad that my friend had a spare pen for me in class’.
Do you see what we mean? As time goes on, we become more positive and grateful for our lives. We look to the tiny little things that we probably wouldn’t have noticed before. When we are grateful, we are happy ☺
By the way, with a gratitude diary, you probably won’t see the effects of it for a while and this is perfectly normal. It can often take a while to see how helpful a gratitude diary is, so it’s important to stick with it. They are more of a long-term thing.
Why don’t you give it a go for a month and let us know how you found it in the comments?
