Finding Gratitude and Strength Amid Life’s Challenges: A Guide to Overcoming Adversity

Understanding Life’s Challenges

Life is not meant to be bed of roses

Why do many of us only feel thankful, peaceful to the spiritual level, gratitude of what we have and feel blessed only rarely? Why not all the time? Would it not be great to feel this way always, to have profound contentment from life and happiness. We could just forget all the misery and pain that we are going through. Then why do we not?

The Role of Challenges in Personal Growth

Well, we all know by now or will know soon that life is not about peace and happiness all the time. That won't happen. Some troubles would be easy, some would take time. It all depends on how well we are able to sail through the challenges of life and that is the adventure of life as Jordan Peterson always says.

Your Stress and Anxiety maybe blocking your vision

How Trauma Impacts Your Perception

Sometime, the traumas of some distressing period of life you are going through, doesn't really lets you appreciate the good things and good people you are surrounded with. Although when you consciously think about them, you will truly realize how blessed and fortunate you are. And if it has been late already and they are now gone, you will realize how blessed and fortunate you have/had been.

The Importance of Awareness in Recognizing Blessings

When everything seemed dark, and painful and everything was consuming you, you were still surrounded with blessings. And I understand that not everyone will be in a state where they are able to appreciate these things and these people, especially when you feel being engulfed into the darkness of the tragedies of your life. Even for some you who can actually appreciate, you would notice it is not easy. This requires profound awareness and conscience. But remember, this should give us Hope for the future. Reiterating the obvious but worth repeating, Life is not gonna be rosy-cozy, at least not constantly, and not forever. It is not supposed to be that way.

Be mindful of your actions. The Power of Responsibility.

How Responsibility Provides Strength

So what shall provide us this hope and strength is that next time we are surrounded within or being consumed by the tragedies we have been involved in, if we are responsible of ourselves, our future self, about the true purpose of our lives, we will be responsible of our acts. If you have had a traumatized childhood or traumatic experiences in any part of your life and that is what is unknowingly or compulsively leading you to fall into wrongful acts or deliberate choices that leads you to tragedies and traumatic experiences then its only the responsibilities that will give you strength. These responsibilities of yourself, your future self, your family and others will help come out of your tragedy and lead a righteous life. These responsibilities will be your anchor that will hold you from falling further and when you become conscious , use the chains of your anchor to climb back up, out of the abyss.

The tragedies of your life clouds your vision

And now when you start to move out and climbing, which will not be an easy climb by the way, what will give you strength and motivation and hope are the blessings you have around you. If you have grown the ability to be aware and be conscious, these good things, the good people that you were with and you had been oblivious of, will start to be visible to you. And these are many reasons to consciously not get drained by toxicity of people, situation and substance and to come out of them. Because only in the absence of such troubles will you be able to find, and energy to appreciate the beauties and blessings around you. And this is how you come out of your tragedies.

Start to capture your blessings. The Role of Gratitude in Healing.

The Benefits of Gratitude Journaling

One of the best ways to be aware of your blessings is Gratitude Journaling. Sit, Reflect, and Write. I have been doing this every morning for two years as soon as I wake up before I touch my smartphone. This wasn't easy. But I had to do it even though I felt like stopping it. I would stop for a few days, but I would get back at it soon. Because I did not know what else to do, and all I could do was to do something that was progressive. Something that was responsible. And yes, this has been my strongest ally in coming out of tragedies of my life.

Practical Tips for Starting a Gratitude Journal

If writing seems tough to do, simply close your eyes while you continue to lay in bed, remember two things that you are thankful of. Think of each and go through the details of each. Acknowledge how that makes you feel. Once you get accustomed to this practice, slowly you can up the notch. I would want you to gradually start recording it in a book. You see why this is important is, at times when a tragedy continues to stay longer and this happens a lot in the lives of people who themselves or people they are related or associated with have not been conscientious in their life and actions. It gets them to suffer through some form mental health trouble and that could be most us, (try reading the data of percentage of people facing mental health issues in modern world and most of them are not even aware of it) then you can go back to these pages and read them. These will give you strength you hope and faith that things will get better. Because no matter how difficult life appears to be, we are always surrounded with blessings in some form or another. All we need is the consciousness to acknowledge them. Anything is possible with practice. So do this, write what you are, or what you have been grateful of. Try finding a new thing every day that you are grateful of, try not repeating them. It may seem difficult but put in some effort and you will find it. Like right now, I do not have my working personal laptop. I am thankful to my new job that allowed me to carry my work laptop home. I could use my work laptop today to jot down these ideas since I wanted it on an electronic device. I am also thankful to have found a wooden plank 3 years ago in a dump that I use to keep my laptop and notebooks etc. while typing or writing.

Blessings will be your source of Strength and Hope

Count your blessings. Because even in your darkest days, they will motivate you to stay strong and keep going. And if you are going through one now, listen to me. You have the ability to cope, you have the ability to be conscious, You have the strength to continue to be responsible and righteous. No trouble is stronger than you. I believe in your strength even if others may or may not or you yourself may or may not. Spirits are connected and aware of each other. Stay Strong! Keep Going! Once you are out of the abyss you were in, you will have the capacity to truly appreciate or even be capable of feeling spiritual happiness and the existence of the blessings.

Today, all of this thought came to me when I was working on my website and my gaze fell on this Batman wrist band I wear at home. It reminded me of one my colleague who had given it to me. She had joined my team at a period when I was really troubled with something. I remember, my focus was so reduced to be able to stay awake in my darkness and step very carefully and finding my way out of it that I was finding it difficult to focus on all the good things around me. There were times this young colleague of mine provided me the support and comfort of a true, empathetic friend. And I remember I would write about it in my journal. All the gratitude I had for her existence in my life during that time. But at the same time, my behaviors were falling short. Often times, I would prioritize on coming out of my troubles than actually be able to focus 100% on my friends, or others or anything else.

Embracing Support Systems

The Importance of Mental Health Support at Work

Folks, it is very important to have mental health support system at work place. If you are reading this and you have the capacity to make decisions around it, please consider it. If you can influence someone to make a decision around it, please do. You can reach out to me if you wish to have a discussion around it here. Many of your employees would be leader of a team. There are several data suggesting proliferating workforce struggling with some form of mental health trouble. It is extremely important for a person at a manager's role especially if they also have a team, to be at a healthy state of mind.

Back to the story, so her existence was certainly that I was thankful of and when I was climbing out of my own abyss, many such blessings helped me keep pushing myself up. And now when I am writing this, and when I saw this band resting on my hand that I probably see everyday many times but not consciously, I was able to recall my blessings, feel the peaceful sense of happiness and gratitude towards life.

I am gonna text her and thank her for this band and her support as soon as I finish this blog. I am so excited!

So well, this is what I wanted to say in this blog. As always, I am there for you. If you need any help with coaching or counselling, book your session or if you just wanna talk to me, do it. I am right here. If there is any specific topic you would want me to discuss, let me know. so as for today, this is what ABHIsays, and Hey.. Count Your Blessings. Stay Strong. Keep Shining!

Sources of Data suggesting increasing number of mental health concern among working population and especially IT workforce:

A quarter of all employees struggle to voice mental health issues at workplace : Survey

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/jobs/hr-policies-trends/a-quarter-of-all-employees-struggle-to-voice-mental-health-issues-at-workplace-survey/articleshow/108643294.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

Mental health at work

https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/mental-health-at-work