Gratitude for the Small Victories

Point blank—it’s important to be grateful for small victories in recovery. When the focus is on gratitude rather than disappointment, you will reap the benefits. Many people forget to be thankful along the rough road of recovery. As a result, they become frustrated or impatient.

Gratitude is a positive feeling. Disappointment, frustration, and impatience are negative feelings. While all feelings are valid, being at least as positive during your journey as you are negative is a step in the right direction. Soon enough, you’ll find the positive emotions begin to multiply, leaving the negative ones in the dust.

The act of being thankful for progress breeds more progress.

You will receive more of what you want if you are thankful for it as you walk along your journey. I am not the first person to use this concept. I didn’t come up with it. I do, however, believe in it and have seen it in action.

Being thankful feels good, but there is more to it. Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and playwright Thornton Wilder once said, “We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.”

If the main goal of recovery is to really live rather than merely to exist, it stands to reason being grateful for our small victories is the secret to having more and more.

By taking all your small victories for granted, you are spitting in your own face and hindering your own good fortune. Gratitude, while definitely a positive feeling, is also an action. The act of being grateful for what you have and for what you do will automatically help you achieve more. Your recovery will become easier and your zest for life will improve.

There are a number of things you can do to practice gratitude.

1. Make a vision board. Grab some photos of things you are thankful for and slap them on a piece of cardboard. Make a pretty collage or fill a frame with photos of people you love and appreciate. Your vision board can be your own style. It can be as difficult or as simple as you wish it to be. When you look at it, you should be filled with gratitude.

2. Keep a gratitude journal. Every day, write down some of the things you are thankful about. It’s best to start your day this way, but you can also do it at night before you go to sleep. Better yet, do both!

3. One of the easiest gratitude practices you can do is just one small step ahead of what you might already be doing. You can opt to post the things you are thankful for each day on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram to share the gratitude you feel. This practice also serves to help you stay positive while sharing positivity in others’ lives. It can also help keep you accountable.

There are so many other gratitude practices you can create.

Gratitude isn’t difficult. In fact, it’s quite easy, and the more you practice it, the easier it becomes. When we think of recovery, the word “easy” doesn’t often come to mind, so doesn’t it make sense to bond gratitude to recovery for a smoother journey?

I’m sure you can list all the rough parts of recovery all too easily, but you can turn it around. One way to do this is by thinking about how much tougher it could be without some of the wonderful things you have.

Do you have people who support you? Say thank-you for those people.

Do you have health insurance? Say thank-you for your ability to pay for health care.

Do you have a place to live? Say thank-you for a comfortable place where you are able to take care of yourself.

Do you have the Internet? A computer? Say thank-you for the information and encouragement you are able to get by using those tools.

Do you have your health? It might be compromised, it might be in the process of improving, or it might have been better at one time long ago, but you still wake up every morning and breathe. You can still move your body. You can still heal.

The list goes on and on.

Everyone’s circumstances are different, but everyone can find things to be thankful for. The best part? If you do this, your recovery will thank you!