Choosing Gratitude...Even Through the Pain

2020 has been unlike anything we’ve ever seen. These days, it’s easy to find a hundred (...thousand...million) things to be anxious about.

We hoped things would be different by now. And yet, the future is still full of question marks. One of the toughest questions we face is this:

How can we guide our kids through this unprecedented year of struggle when it’s so hard to even guide ourselves?

One way to start is to teach our kids to choose gratitude...even when it’s hard to see what we have to be thankful for. And in teaching our kids, we practice gratitude ourselves, even in the face of such a painful year.

As things continue to go wrong around us, we can make the choice to focus on what is going right (and point it out to our kids). We still acknowledge that things are hard -- very hard -- but we can also model for our kids how we are all learning & growing stronger together as we walk through a hard reality with resilience.

Choosing gratitude may not minimize the pain of life...but gratitude can de-power that pain to be the driving decision-maker in our days.

This holiday season will not look like any other in history, and that reality may make us very sad (or even angry) to accept. Let’s choose the small & simple practice of gratitude to remind ourselves and to teach our littles that we always have a choice about what we focus on.

We’re so thankful for you, Mom. Keep fighting the good fight - it isn’t easy, but it’s worth it!