How Gratitude Defeats Difficulties

by Raymund Tamayo

Being grateful seems to be a simple habit. It is easy just to say thanks, right? This is why many have taken it for granted. 

However, gratitude has real power. It could help us overcome difficulties in our lives if we only know how to harness it.

1. Difficult Person

For example, when we are faced with a difficult person, gratitude reminds us we are not alone in our life journey. Gratitude makes us realize we are alive, thus we have people around us. 

If there is no difficult person to deal with, it means we are all alone. Not that being alone is a bad thing because I believe we all need some time on our own. 

Having a difficult person in your life is a way to practice being better at communication and patience. You can think of that person as an unwitting teacher, who helps you grow as a person.

2. Difficult Job

Gratitude helps us realize we have a job in the first place, and thus some source of income to be able to make a living. 

Of course, we should not be content about our potential to earn money, and so we should pursue other sources of income as well. We can also always choose to find another job if we think we are having a hard time on our current one. 

But gratitude, above all, helps us tide through our current one without getting stressed too much.

3. Difficult Health

This is perhaps the most difficult for gratitude to overcome. Problems with our health are never fun. They are actually often quite painful and exhausting. As a diabetic and hypertensive person, I can say this from experience.

What I do to somehow ease the struggle is to be thankful I'm still breathing. I'm still able to breathe and use my senses to enjoy the things around me. I try to enjoy with the people around me as much as possible. I'm also always thankful for having loved ones who me help go through my medical struggles.

I'm not saying it is easy, I know it's not. But being grateful sure helps a lot.

4. Difficult Circumstances

There are days when everything seems to be falling all around us. As if we are putting out fires here, there, and everywhere. And we feel stressed and overwhelmed. How can we deal with this feeling of overwhelm?

We can be grateful for everything in our lives that's overwhelming us. That means we are still functional and useful. People are still counting on us. People still need us.

We can treasure each person making a request and sending us a message. Although it is also our God-given right to not answer any messages if we don't want to. 

Final Word

Life comes with so many difficulties. It's just the way it is. It comes with the package, so to speak. 

It is up to us how to manage these struggles. Gratitude is one of the most powerful weapons we can use to defeat difficulties.

You want to see my Gratitude List?