How Gratitude Counteracts Stress and Fear
Everyone encounters stress and fear at some point in their lives.
Maybe it’s fear over the way work is going. Maybe you’re stressing about how your personal life is working out. Maybe you don’t know where the stress and fear are coming from but you know it’s lurking there in the back of your mind.
How do you even begin to fight back against this insidious force?
One simple step: gratitude.
Learning to express your gratitude for the little things around you, is the first step toward beating back and counteracting the stress and fear that always seem to threaten to overwhelm us!
Community
The thing about stress and fear is that they tend to isolate us in our own misery.
When things get stressful, the natural reaction is to hide that stress and try to push on or ignore it. This leaves you feeling like you’re the only one who’s ever experienced or whoever will experience anything of this nature.
Gratitude is all about connection and community!
As you start to express your gratitude and thanks for the people and situations that surround you, you’ll find that your connections grow. Growing connections are meant to pull you out of that isolation and put you back in a place where you can share those fears and insecurities with ease!
Minimize the Issue
Stress and fear, experienced in self-imposed isolation, can often be the only thing we think about. We go to bed stressing about that one issue at work, wake up with the same thoughts, and let it gnaw at our thoughts and emotions throughout the day.
Gratitude breaks up that cycle and starts to minimize the issue you’re experiencing!
It’s hard to continue to be stressed at work when you realize how grateful you are for the fact that you have a job and a supportive family and friends who make you laugh. Rather than continuing in the same rut of worry, stress, and fear, expressing your gratitude gives you a reason to see beyond the issue that’s causing all those problems!
Grow With Gratitude
Often, stress and fear are rooted in a problem that we’re struggling to outgrow or outwork.
Gratitude is a moment of growth where its focus is on being thankful for what we have, not what we can do or exceed.
As you learn to express gratitude fully and completely, the key comes as you realize that you are valuable just the way you are. There’s no project at work, problem at home or school, or chore you haven’t finished that will make you any less valuable or grateful for what you have!
Takeaway
Stress and fear hit us hard at every stage of life. Learning to manage that stress and fear starts with one simple step: gratitude.
As you learn to express your gratitude, you’re able to break out of the cycle of stress and fear and move yourself into a space that’s thankful for the little things and appreciative of who you are, not what you’re trying to accomplish!
