LAST EDITED: OCTOBER 14, 2021 | BY: KIMBERLY EVANS

If you know me well enough, you will know that I would rather do anything than sell my soul, posting about products that I don’t even like. This post contains affiliate links which I am so excited to recommend to you (and make just a little money from) and would hope that if you have the opportunity to recommend products you love, you would do the same.

It can be hard to feel grateful when life is hard. And over the past 18 months as the world has felt upside down, life has felt even harder. What I know for sure is that everyone struggles and everyone has the ability to take the small steps each day, that turn into bigger steps that turn into moments of gratitude. There is no sugar coating how very challenging this is, in a hard season, but knowing that you aren’t alone is often half the battle. Here are 5 ways to be grateful when life is hard that will allow you to shift your mindset into seeing joy amidst the darkness.

#1 - Think back to past examples of darkness and overcoming it.

Really look into your past and try to remember a time when you were anxious and stressed out over something that hadn’t gone your way, but then days or even years later you realized that it had led to something wonderful. Sometimes horrible things happen to us, and I’m not trying to diminish your pain. If someone would have told me this shortly after Cassidy was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis, I might have lost my mind. But I can honestly say that her diagnosis has changed me, stretched me and taught me in ways that I don’t think I could have ever experienced unless under these dark times. You never know when something will turn out to be a blessing in disguise. In fact, if you think hard enough, you can always find at least one good thing that came out of every not so good thing.

#2 - Get Unstuck

A few posts back I talked about 6 ways to get Unstuck. Follow the steps to figure out what might be really upsetting you.

#3 - Note the People that make your life better.

Think about the people in your life. Family, Friends, Friends who are family, Co-workers, neighbors. Who are the people that are there when life is good and when it is hard. Remember a time when they dropped off dinner, just because or sent over flowers to cheer you up or offered to watch the kids so that you could have a break. People like this are what make life better. Take a moment and list 5 of these people in your life and make a plan to send them a note or do something special for them this week.

#4 - Write down 5 things every day that you are grateful for that happened that day.

Gratitude journals have been a top suggestion by many for a long time. So much so, that I think we have started to overthink the power of being grateful even when life is hard. It’s often easy to think of the ‘big stuff’ when it comes to gratitude. Family, House, Job, Food, Shelter, etc. However, if you want to really challenge yourself and start paying closer attention to things going on around you, challenge yourself to pick 5 new things that you are grateful for that happened that day. For example, I’m grateful that the kind stranger let me go in front of them at the grocery store checkout. I’m grateful for that hot french press cup of coffee to start my day. I’m grateful for the beautiful conversation that I had with my daughter before she went to sleep. I’m grateful for the ways the stars shone so bright tonight. You get the picture. Once you start doing this, you will start noticing these moments happen throughout the day and will look forward to writing them down in your gratitude journal at the end of the night.

#5 - Never Lose Hope

Grateful people know that rainbows can only come after the rain. This season, as hard as it may be, is still a season. No matter what happens, never lose hope. If this past year has taught us anything, it’s that the future is uncertain, and whether or not you try to micromanage outcomes that are beyond your control, you can take comfort in the fact that once the sun sets, it rises the next day.

Being grateful is a choice every single day. Sometimes even every minute of the day on really hard days. If you can pick even one of these ideas when times are hard, you will be one step in the right direction to feeling like your grateful self again. Pop over to @celebratingsimplelifepodcast on Instagram and keep the conversation going.

Cheers to Celebrating Today!