Living A Life Of Gratitude

I am in a new phase of life in my early 40s. I’m now reflecting on my past life and trying to compare what that looked like with the life I currently have. I must admit with no doubt whatsoever that I like the life I now have and wouldn’t trade it for anything else this world has to offer me. Why the change of heart? I found myself!

Let me explain what exactly I mean by “I found myself”. I decided years back that I didn’t like the life that I had falsely created for myself. I thought I had everything. The six-figure salary as a Pharmacist working full-time, the marriage, children, dream home, and everything else that was “packaged” nicely to support my dream. It was a dream indeed, but it came crashing down on me when I could not live in that version I made for myself anymore.

I, like many of us as women, have these same dreams. The marriage, children, career, home, and sprinkle some vacation throughout. However, let’s be realistic for a moment. How is EVERYTHING being balanced right now? Are you happy and deeply content with your life and schedule as you have it?

Is there something you feel deep down is missing, and you’re struggling each day to just get a breakthrough about why you feel the way you do? It’s like a feeling of unease about your life. You’re also wishing for a change of space, pace, and everything in between, but you just can’t get there long enough to figure out exactly why you’re not at ease. Here’s why!

Your gratitude meter is on low. Are you living the life you truly want for yourself unapologetically? Or are you seriously deep down resenting another person’s life, goals, and dreams that they are actively accomplishing? If you have even just a seed of discomfort about your current life, then it tells me that your gratitude meter is low.

Now before you quickly click out of this uncomfortable talk, I’ll explain it a bit more. We live in the social media phase of life. Everything is posted all around us. The good, the ugly, and the made-up stories. We get to see a sneak peek into others’ lives and their journey. Some may look flashy and over the top, while others may show you a more easy-going, simplistic life.

However, what you constantly feed yourself, whether for good or not so good, will influence your ability to enjoy and steward well the life you currently have. If I spend my time watching a person for instance who creates videos on how they dress each day, I may at some point in time start to either be inspired to want to emulate their style or be a little envious of what they do get to have for themselves, especially if I might be in a season of life where I may not have enough resources to create the wardrobe that they have.

That’s just one example, but I can keep going if I had the space on this blog to do so, but I don’t. I do hope you get this message from my example given.

The point is, I can’t build a life of gratitude for myself if I’m constantly feeding on the lifestyle choices of others. It’s either inspiring me to also rise up higher and achieve a similar goal, or it’s pushing me into a state of resentment for the life someone else has.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not a saint here. I had the same experiences, and I’m just trying to show you how I built a life based on others and ended up hating it and searching for something else even though everything seemed perfect upfront.

But now, I really have pulled myself back and have been intentional about what I focus on about my journey compared to others. In other words, I’m now looking at what I currently have and being intentionally thankful for the life I get to experience without building it from watching others succeed.

That helped me to increase my gratitude meter up a lot more from where I initially started. So let me give you ways on how to get your gratitude meter up and still be present in the life you currently live.

Are you also struggling to find gratitude with your current life? Or do you have any suggestions on how to live a life of gratitude? Please feel free to add to my list, or ask your questions or concerns below. I would be happy to help you!

“I am grateful for the life that I currently get to live. If ever I feel disconnected from it, I have to check what I have planted in my mind that has shifted my focus from the journey I was called to live intentionally”

Social Media Influence

What you watch, whether intentionally or through doomscrolling, will either encourage your journey or send you right back to the bottom of your gratitude meter. So be very strategic and careful about who you follow daily or what you listen to as you doomscroll. It’s either going to encourage you to be a better person in life or send you down a dark hole of discontentment and dis-ease about your current life.

Yes, I am fully aware of the women who may want to be married, or have children, or be in a dream career and all the bells and whistles. But here’s the truth. If you keep focusing on that content, especially if you’re not yet in that season of life, then it may rather discourage and demotivate you, rather than inspire your own desires for that goal or dream.

Therefore, be very careful of how you internally feel when you see those profiles, and instead of feeding on them, switch your focus to maybe something else uplifting and fitting for your single season of life.

Just that tweak will help you to stay grateful in the season of life you are currently stewarding well before that opportunity comes around.

Gratitude Reflections

In whatever season you find yourself, look for at least ONE thing daily that you can give thanks for. It could be ANYTHING. For example, I am giving thanks for the time I get to spend with my children at home. Now, I have in the past struggled with having an income to be able to do whatever I want, whenever I want to.

But I am in a season of sacrifice and instead of looking at women in careers I may have wanted, I’m rather going to be thankful for the season I get to be at home and present with my kids, even if my home is not Pinterest worthy right now because my kids have turned it into a Children’s museum with toys and cardboard boxes ALL over the place.

However, I’m thankful to be in this position, career or no career, income or no income. I’m giving thanks for my current lifestyle. Therefore, social media with a career-oriented lifestyle will not be my focus. I might, however, find a declutter your home from toys and boxes channel to binge-watch instead.

Stay Laser Focused

Have you ever heard the term, “stay in your own lane”? I’m sure you have a million times over. There’s so much truth to it, actually. If you can, like horses when they are about to race, put your blinkers (plastic or leather cups that are placed on either side of the eyes that are used to keep horses focused on only what is in front of them) on.

If this analogy with horses doesn’t make sense to you, then let me clarify it for you. Stay laser-focused on your own journey that you have in front of you. Don’t look to the right or left as you travel your path. If you do, you will be like these horses running into another horse on either side who is going in the same direction as you, and you will have a major collision.

That will look like feeling inadequate, not good enough, or just an overall displeasure and dissatisfaction about your own life. However, if you stay focused on your journey and remain in your lane, what opportunities won’t find you? They will chase you down.

Which gets me to my next point.

Destiny Killers

What exactly are destiny killers? These are areas in your life that you did not steward well, that took you off your own course because you didn’t keep laser-focused on your own journey through life. You thought the life you were observing was somehow better than yours, and you didn’t see with clarity the struggles that the person you are focusing on as having it all together is going through.

We see it all the time on social media. The celebrity that looked like a “walking perfection” in all areas of their life, only to also see the fallout as well. This is the reason why we don’t keep focused on others’ lives unless it’s an inspiration and not a gratitude killer.

Because as soon as you focus on their life and choose to take the focus off your life, you will get detoured, and we all know how difficult it can get at times when you try to get out of a pit that you may have put yourself in headfirst because of the distractions around you.

Choose Your Lane

We are all unique in our own way. When did we all become so “cookie cutter” in our lifestyle choices? Why are we all aspiring for the same things in life as if that’s the standard of a blessed life? Blessings can flow from so many different angles and should not be centered on the norms of society.

I am blessed whether I get to raise children or not. I am blessed whether I own a house or I’m still living in my parents’ house. There’s still something to be grateful for. Because you never know who is praying for the very life you are walking in.

There is someone, somewhere, hoping to have that career opportunity, home, family, and lifestyle you are currently complaining about or displeased with.

Your lane, however, is also designed for you to discover in your own time, place, and space. Your internal desires are for you to aspire to on your own journey ahead of you. Guard and treasure those desires, because they will help to navigate you to the life that you were destined to live.

Hope this blog post inspired and somehow encouraged you to take a brief moment of reflection and to look at the life that you have right now, and see if your focus is somehow not on it and on someone else’s journey. If you realize that it may be the case, then you need to reassess where you gave away your journey of gratitude to settle for getting someone else’s life.

Get back on your own path, stay focused on your vision, and keep only the desires that you have for your life at the forefront.

I wrote a book called A Balanced Life: Moving From a Dysfunctional Life to a Purposeful One. I do believe that we can create the lives that we want to live for ourselves in peace and balance.

We need to make it a priority to shift our lives from what’s not working or helping us be our best selves to something more balanced and meaningful. Get a copy on Amazon.

Also, for more finding balance and self-care-related blog posts, visit:

• Balancing Motherhood and Purpose
• A Mom In Need Of A TIME-OUT
• Benefits Of Self-care As A Mom
• Overcoming The Hurdles And Struggles Of Motherhood
• Staying fit as a mom

In addition, for more information about my personal journey of re-discovery, get a copy of my book available on Amazon: I am Who God Says I Am: Always be inspired to live the life God has planned for you. It also highlights my personal journey of transition from a dysfunctional life to a purposeful one.

Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest to see how life can be lived in balance.

Did you find the strategies listed in this article helpful? What were some of your favorite tips? How have they worked for you? Leave a comment below; I’d love to know what you think.

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