Conscientiously cultivating gratitude is such an important part of leading a fulfilled life, but your life also won’t be fulfilled if you don’t get to do your favorite thing. Here are the key tips to practice gratitude in your day-to-day life without giving up complaining, because complaining is awesome.
Notice the little things.
Presencing yourself to small moments is essential to staying grateful. Eat a delicious crisp apple? See a gorgeous cloud formation in the sky? Take note, and treasure those experiences. On the flip side, if you eat a grainy, disappointing apple, you can also take note of that, and then complain to a friend about how gross the apple you ate earlier today was. Why not? Complaining feels good and is good for the world!
Share your gratitude.
Gratitude is infectious! Sharing what you’re grateful for will strengthen your relationships, so next time you’re with a friend, tell them what you appreciate and admire about them. Then, tell them about how annoying your commute this morning was. Spare no detail! Had to wait 13 minutes for your transfer? Talk about it!! Complaining is so important, too, because it strengthens social bonds through commiseration and empathy, maybe? Not sure; we didn’t really look into it, but we’re definitely not going to stop!
Start a gratitude journal, but don’t talk about it.
Writing down small things you feel grateful for is a beautiful way to create an appreciative worldview. However, don’t tell anyone that you have a gratitude journal because they might think, “Wow, they’re so grateful and well adjusted. I really admire that.” And people thinking that is an absolute nightmare because they might forget that your life is still incredibly annoying and full of things to bitch about. The last thing you want is for the world to see you as someone who ISN’T going to tell them about the TWO HOURS you spent on the phone with Optimum last night. You most certainly are!
So follow these tips to strike the perfect balance between practicing gratitude while still complaining as much as possible. Life is a gift: an annoying, inconvenient gift. And after all, what is complaining if not one more thing to be grateful for?
