Forums » Smalltalk » Gratitude- What are you grateful for?

I wanted to post a new/relevant thread for people to continue posting what they are grateful for. Gratitude has been shown to help in situations such as depression, resentment, rejection and adversity of all sorts. It changes the emotional process from one of powerlessness and victimhood, to one of perseverance and abundance. I've found it particularly helpful in my own journey.

The rules: It can be anyone or anything that you feel gratitude for having in your life.

I am grateful for two people in my life in particular.

I have PTSD- I've been in active therapy for a decade with a therapist that is nothing short of an amazing healer in the emotional sense and mental sense of the spectrum. But that's not to say I haven't done the bulk of the work. The bulk of any cognitive behavioral therapy is on the patient. But the guidance has been extraordinary and priceless in nature. Gratitude has been another priceless tool in my box of strategies. It's amazing to me how much gratitude can help.

Today I find myself even more grateful than usual for my husband. He came into the picture when my life was still very much a mess and I was struggling hard with my depression and ptsd related anxiety and stress. And he simply wouldn't let me go. He listened when I ranted and raved about the conflict I was facing and felt completely unable to deal with. He didn't judge me, he didn't try to fix anything, he just listened. Over and over again, he listened, offering me compassion and taking a little of the weight of my burdens off my shoulders for awhile so I could have a little time to simply be myself. I think in that way, coming into my life when he did, that he saved me. Maybe just a little, because I'm sure I would have found a way to survive if he hadn't, but what he did, when he did, set me on the path to being healed and almost whole as I am now. And he just keeps doing it.

3 years and immeasurable chaos later and he's still here, loving me and sharing the burden of my past without complaint. He effortlessly took on my children's pain and burdens also, just last night holding my 11 year old as he cried over a very hard conversation over his father. He didn't talk trash about my ex, or get angry, he held my son while he cried and expressed his pain. It's amazing to me, and priceless, to have a man like this in my life. To have a partner like this and be able to model a relationship like the one he and I have, for my children. I realized as we sat down to dinner last night as a family and were chattering away and laughing hard over jokes and our pets antics that we finally have what I've been desperate for all my life. We're a family, and a good one and my husband is a gigantic part of why. I'm so grateful, and I've spent more of the last 3 years than not telling him every single day. I can't bear to let myself take him for granted. Not when I wanted him this much and was given the chance to have him.

My second person is without a doubt my therapist. I've been seeing him since halfway through 2009. There are plenty of times I've been quite certain I hated his guts. He's gentle when speaking but honest and without pretense. That can be hard to handle when you aren't facing the truth yourself, or have spent most your life twisting it so it doesn't break you into pieces. But I know too that I can trust him. That I don't have to pretend, lie or withhold details about myself and where I come from when we're speaking. Coming where I've come from, that's a rare thing. I'm grateful for all the work we've done and the changes that have come about in me because of it. The life I get to live because I started this journey. And I'm so grateful that for so many years my therapist was my support network because I didn't have one in my life. It made addressing trauma possible and it made me feel less alone while I sought out a family of my own. Without that, I don't know if I'd have had the strength to love as fiercely as I have, or to live with the courage that's been necessary to survive some of the things that have happened to me in the last decade. I haven't had very many people I could count on in my life, and I've pushed more people away from me than I've ever dared to keep. But I can't deny how grateful I am for the very few I've counted on, that did everything they could to not let me down.

I am grateful for having KrispytheKritter as a super good buddy to me. I've known her for probably 4-5 years online.

Right now I'm in a spot in my rl where I seriously don't know how or why I bother getting up anymore. My life isn't being fair to me, but hey when is life fair? I'm just not really comfortable, right now, to open up enough to say what it is that is wrong at this time.

Anyways.

Krispy has stuck with me through thick and thin, especially now when I need her most. Well. I do appreciate others who do what they can for me, but I just have a closer friendship to Krispy.

I always find a way to chug along until the specific time Krispy gets on. She always gives me gif cat snuggles to help me feel better, listens to what I have to get off my chest, and every time I apologize to her she never holds it against me. I feel bad because I don't like her, or others, to feel powerless to help me more than just listening to me vent or what ever I need. Again. Krispy will always lend me her support how she can.

We then always have a good time rping together, and I grin more times than not with her responses. She's a really great friend, and I'm glad to have found her on our previous rp site we used to be on. She's super terrific and spoils me rotten in rp which I adore her for. Plus with Krispy I've set many various rp records with her. Couldn't ask for a better friend for me.

Without going into too much detail, I'm grateful that my family recognized when I was at my lowest point and literally forced me into getting help. I literally would not be here today if it weren't for that split-second decision by those closest to me.

This one is a tough one, but also a beautiful one. I’m turning 32 in November, and its only been maybe the last 2 years that I’ve tasted and had true stability in my life. That is an enormous thing. I am most definitely grateful for it, but there are times too, where I feel, because of my past, because of growing up in an abusive environment, that I miss that constant stress and I find myself lost without it. It’s a strange thing, learning to live without constant pressure or fear and probably sounds a bit ridiculous.

Without going into too much detail, the kind of abuse I went through was varying, but at its core of a sexual nature from one parent and Munchausen's by proxy by another. Both these people are no longer in my life. I stopped talking to my mother (womb donor) 3 years ago on April 10th. Some days it’s tough because who doesn’t want to have that pretty usual TV trope of having a mum you can call up and ask for recipes? I can’t watch Pixar’s Brave for the life of me because it destroys me. It’s a glorious film and I love it, but I can’t bring myself to watch it after the first time because that relationship was salvageable. But that also means that I am grateful to myself for surviving, and for setting up that boundary to save myself mentally & emotionally.

The only true parent I had was my Papa. He taught me without a doubt that love and acceptance are possible, and that I am deserving of it. Well, that I can be deserving of it. That’s still a tough one, but I couldn’t be more grateful for another human being other than my Papa, because he’s a major reason as to why I am still here, sharing air with you all.

The other main person would be my husband. We have most certainly had our ups and downs, but at the end of the day, thank you so much for never giving up on me. He takes care of me through my dissociative seizures, even when it causes him unimaginable stress when he asks me “Do you know who I am?” and I can’t answer him because I don’t remember who he is during those times. Hell, I don’t even remember my own name. Together we create and share a safe place for both of us to be ourselves, and to be vulnerable. While he might be more callous than I am, he shows me kindness every day. Kindness that, some days, I don’t believe I am worthy of, and it means everything.

There are of course friends that I have made throughout the years that I would not be the same without. And when I say that, I mean even the ones that were good and then blew up in my face, because I wholly believe in my core that we all need one another. Perhaps I am to learn a lesson by having a bad issue with someone, but as long as I can take something from it, it is not ‘useless’, and even things that may be perceived as ‘useless’ to me, are not to someone else.

We all make up a part of this beautiful tapestry called life. I’m grateful for as much as I can be and remember to be. Counting our blessings is important. Sometimes the negativity can flood out all the good, but a single hug can help melt some of that away. Something so small, yet means so much. I’m grateful for this thread and the opportunity to share, though it may not be much.

Thank you.

I am grateful for my mom, my wife, and my friends, and winter.

There's a list of things I'm grateful for, really, but I suppose in the long run I want to be a little selfish with this answer. I'm grateful for my own inner strength. To sort of just..wrap it all up in a few short sentences I've grown up with abuse of all kinds. (Sexual, physical, verbal,). I've struggled with suicidal thoughts and still do to this day. And just two years ago I was once again subjected to sexual abuse, by someone I thought was my friend, of all people! On top of everything else, on top of family members dying...so life has always found a way to sort of...catch me off guard.

Yet I've always managed to dig myself out of the dark, scary hole depression and fear tries to put me into. I'm not elegant with words. There's no pretty way for me to explain it but I'm...stronger than I give myself credit for, sometimes. And i'm grateful that I have passions for things, like writing or music or the way my best friends sound when they laugh. I'm grateful I can talk myself down (usually) when things get rough. I'm grateful that I'm strong for myself and for others, because all my life i was told I wasn't.

So it may be a little selfish, But I'm grateful for my own inner strength that keeps me fighting, that keeps reminding me that there's still so much more to see and do and love.

My beloved significant other who is my inspiration and muse. My family and my girlfriends Sioux tribe of enternal freindship love and forgiveness understanding. My drummer rhythm guitarist who are letting me be the bassist lead singer songwriter of our new band. Either sexysultryangelbabe and her 2 studs or the Lakota Sioux warriors.

Love, this is in no way selfish. It is so rare that we give ourselves credit, or cut ourselves slack for that matter. It is wondrous to see that you can, even if you struggle with it sometimes. I am so proud of you.

I have had a rough few months.

I will probably type out something long and wistful later but...I'm sleepy, which is usually when the simplest yet truest stuff comes from my mouth. Or fingers in this case.

I saw two butterflies on my ride to lunch today/yesterday, flying slowly past my bike as I rode and after the first I smiled, and went 'wow that's so cool, butterflies are so beautiful, I never see them anymore' 2 minutes later, another, and I was smiling ear to ear pedaling and all I could think was... 'I must be doing something right.'

I'm grateful for my true friends, and family who are solid in their love and support. My brother called me out of the blue a little while ago and we had a good long talk. I love my little brother! My big sis, not so much.

Like PrinceLacrima, I too am grateful for my inner strength. It has managed to keep me sane and always finding a way to take myself forward even when the path has been so dark.

I'm grateful for my wife and soulmate who puts up with me and my Cantankerous Curmudgeoniness that I get into sometimes, and all the old movies I like to watch. I love you darlingheart!

I am grateful for the existence of high heels. It literally raises up my self esteem whenever I have to meet with any of my friends that are above 1.6m in height.

I’m very grateful for being able to play the erhu, because I’ve never felt so gratified when I could ‘reply’ to my upstairs neighbour’s flute. Also, really grateful for the opportunity to join my school’s orchestra, it was the most enjoyable experience ever, to be able to play along with so many people, even though we are a tiny orchestra in comparison to the other schools’. 😂

Jokes aside, I am grateful for my dad being the way he is- he’s the most amazing person I know. He is amazing, intelligent as heck, and his brain definitely works in a different way from mine; it sometimes feels as if I can give him only scraps of half-formed idea and he could somehow churn out a prototype, or something entirely new and interesting in only five minutes and I’m never bored with him, and honestly his ability to casually throw brutal shade at inefficient people can be a comedy show all by itself, even if it is rather painful when directed at me.

He is the one I go to when I am too distraught to made a rational decision, and I can always count on him to dissect any too difficult problem with brutal honesty and clinical precision and be patient with me when I am struggling but will never be anything but honest regardless. However, I am also grateful that he is willing to learn how to deal with me when I am emotional, even if he himself tends to have the emotional range of a particularly cheery mimosa plant in his default mode.

Also, I am grateful for my art teacher, who did not once lose hope in me, even after knowing about what I did and even after I quit her class for an entire year once. She has known me for more than a decade by now and she has definitely seen me at my lowest. She did not judge me, not once- except when it comes to religion but eh.

She was the one who supported, and encouraged me to never give up drawing; she was the first person who sighed over how I should’ve pursued fine arts instead, instead of the other way round. She was the one whose expectations I can never reach, but I never once felt sad or angry at that fact, but encouraged because I know clearly that she doesn’t say so to humiliate me, or compare me with others, but that she genuinely believe that I can always do better that what I think I can.