Day #112 in A Year of Positivity

“Your brain can’t be grateful and anxious at the same time. When anxiety takes hold, look for gratitude.”—Anonymous

Hi there, sunshine! I hope you are doing well! Yesterday, while scrolling through my social media newsfeed, I encountered a fascinating quote. I can’t find the name of whoever came up with this quote, but when I think back on any moment I have ever been grateful, anxiety was nowhere to be found. That’s why I am sharing today’s positivity quote, “Your brain can’t be grateful and anxious at the same time. When anxiety takes hold, look for gratitude.” We have all experienced moments of anxiety at some point in our lives, and how we respond to that emotional moment is critical.

If you haven’t seen it, I just started a new project on this blog, A Year of Thanks. If you find yourself having more moments of anxiety than usual, it’s worth looking into grounding yourself by finding something to be grateful for. It can be any number of things, such as goals, accomplishments, a special moment, or even a person you love and care about. If you want, you can join me on this daily challenge for 2025, but if not, that’s fine, too. It’s important to understand that it’s okay if you experience the emotion of anxiety, as we’ve all experienced it from time to time. Just breathe through it, and know that everything will be okay.

I have been a victim of emotional and mental abuse in the past. As a result, I often experienced moments of anxiety and even the occasional panic attack when I encountered a trigger. So, I can speak from some personal experience that grounding myself was incredibly helpful in getting through the moment by incorporating a breathing exercise, telling myself that I’m safe and okay, and also taking that very same moment to be grateful that I’m okay and in a safe space. I’ve gone through my era of processing that emotional and mental trauma and healing from it, though I am not immune to the emotion of anxiety in other aspects of my life from time to time. Gratitude is an incredibly powerful tool to improve emotional and mental strength, and it has so many other benefits as well, so try it out!