Be Thankful in Recovery
With Thanksgiving fast approaching, as well as throughout recovery, it is important to be mindful of gratitude in one’s recovery journey. Being aware of emotions, thoughts, and feelings of gratitude can be important for staying sober during the Holiday season. The holidays can bring back bad memories of holidays past, as well as being triggers of temptations in the present and can de-rail recovery. But finding thankfulness during the season and focusing on the positive aspects of recovery can really help individuals stay on target.
Gratitude is simply being thankful and appreciating people, things, and emotions …everything in your life. Sometimes gratitude means appreciating the lessons learned from the hard things people have endured as well. Webster’s defines being grateful as, “feeling or showing thanks or feeling or showing thanks to someone for some helpful act.” It is also important to recognize and be grateful for the support of those in your recovery journey. Many in recovery recognize the strength they feel in the groups they’ve been a part of in their recovery process.
Recognizing gratitude towards the opportunity to become sober and clean in recovery is important to be aware of. Research shows that having gratitude decreases one’s feelings of anxiety and depression, enhances relationships, increases resiliency, increases kindness towards others, improves one’s sleeping patterns, and encourages forgiveness. Thus, an individual in recovery who is thankful for their involvement in treatment and is feeling grateful for other aspects of their life, will most likely progress farther in their journey of recovery.