Gratitude is a powerful thing however it can be hard to maintain a positive attitude in the times it feels like you have nothing to be grateful for. Gratitude can help you feel better in situations. My advice is when you catch yourself complaining about something, think about a positive thing you experienced that day or even the day before. It can be something as simple as you had your favorite snack or your best friends made a funny joke. Thinking about things that help release dopamine in your brain can help elevate your mood. Gratitude can also help you become a more positive person. 

Fake it till you make it. If you find it hard to see the good in things, take time to reflect about the good in your life, things like health, good friends, loving family, pets, and even a show you like to watch. Naturally over time this will become a habit and you will notice how much happier you are. 

However, do not confuse trying to be more grateful for toxic positivity. Toxic positivity is when you push down your “negative” feelings and try to be more happy ALL the time. This can also lead to greater mental health issues like depression. Bottling emotions up is not a good nor smart coping mechanism, there are many ways to deal with being upset. Remember it is okay to be upset and cry. You should never feel like you have to conceal your feelings. If you start to feel like the stress, sadness, anger, or frustration you are experiencing is becoming too much for you or getting difficult to deal with, that is when you should reach out to a trusted adult. 

Because being more grateful for the things you have around you can have such a positive effect on how you feel there are people who believe it can also open doors in your life for new things to come in. Think of it like you gave a small gift to someone and they were so appreciative of the gift that the next time you get them something you want it to be better than the last because you know they enjoyed the gift. This is the theory that some people have, they believe that with being more grateful comes more positivity and things to be grateful for. 

Overall in my opinion, gratitude is something we should all try and practice more often in our day to day life with ourselves and others. There are plenty of ways to show yourself appreciation like doing things you like and putting yourself first.

 Let’s see what Sophomore Jizelle Montoya has to say about gratitude.

1.How do you view gratitude?

“I view gratitude as an important aspect of living a fulfilling life, to me gratitude is about understanding blessings, kindness and support we receive from others and even life itself.”

2. How/what do you do to show your gratitude for others?

“There are multiple ways I like to show people my gratitude. Sometimes I like to offer a small gift, spend time with people, and even help them out by being there when they need something.”

3.)What Is your favorite way to show yourself gratitude?

 “Some of my favorite ways to show myself gratitude are to have self care days, talk kindly about myself, and celebrate when I reach a goal of mine.”