Gratitude is a MUST

This is a phrase from one of my favorite songs of 2019. I might dare to say one of my favorite songs of all time. The lyric comes from a song called “Toast” by the Jamaican artist Koffee. She just won a Grammy for best reggae album and I’m so proud of her. I just wanted to plug y’all if you didn’t know the song. Get hip to it. You’ll thank me later.

Gratitude. It is a must. Life gets complicated. It gets sticky. It makes your teeth clench at times and makes you want to bang your head against the wall at other times. Focusing on those negative times in your life can make you feel even more like crap. Last year was pretty crappy. I was tied up in my feelings of betrayal and heartbreak. I had negative thoughts about life, love, family relationships, friendships and myself. I did a lot of cool things last year. I did a lot of firsts but I was drowning in a sea of negativity. Engulfed in that bad situation. Looking back at it, I could’ve lessened my stress last year by thinking more about the good things that happened to me. Some people can think heavily on their negative experiences and use that to lift themselves out of depression. They can use that to motivate their self growth as well. That’s not me. I strive when I’m happy or in positive spaces. Gratitude is positive.

One of my goals for this year is to force myself to be more grateful (yup I have a resolution. I’m a basic bitch). Terrible things will happen to you, but sadly you’re judged on how you bounce back from them. Your challenge and objective is to always bounce back and level up. I know being more grateful can help me get out of my rut. I have periods of depression where I don’t do shit but binge eat and bum out. This stage doesn’t make me a better person. So I’m trying something new. Me and one of my cousins are Pinterest feens. They saw this idea called a gratitude jar. You get a jar and each day you write down what you’re grateful for that day. At the end of the year you’ll have 365 things you’re grateful for. Whenever I feel down about how my life, I plan on choosing one of the gratitudes to read to myself. It’s cheesy but I’m cheesy. Writing notes for the jar forces me to be grateful for what I do have. I write simple things like “I’m grateful for life”. Even the simple things should be appreciated. I feel good when I have to dig deep to find an entry for my jar after a shitty day. When I feel good, I become productive. I’ll keep you updated on my jar and I hope some of you try it out.

PS: I’ll try to include songs in my posts because I like sharing music with others. I’ll also share one or two gratitudes.

Here’s one for this post: I’m grateful for Soca music. It gives me a boost of energy and lightens my mood.

Stay grounded

– Tammy🖤 ♈