Gratitude - What does it mean to be Grateful

Gratitude is a thing that we as middle schoolers forget about; people in general, too. Gratitude is the practice of remembering what we have and how blessed we are to have it. We tend to forget about what we have and gravitate towards the negative. Someone else always has it worse than you, and they may not have as much to be grateful for. I want to share about ways we can practice gratitude in our everyday lives.

Let’s start with the fact of how fortunate we are. You are probably getting tired of everyone talking about this, I am too. We must discuss this, because if we didn’t then we would be ungrateful and not realize how fortunate we are. Let’s start with the basics that everyone thinks about, we have food, water, and shelter. At Barnesville we recently have learned about food insecurity and how much it affects everyday life. Also, we are going to school. Many people wish they could be educated, and then there’s us wishing that we didn’t go to school. We are fortunate that we live in a peaceful country, and we’re safe. In Israel, for example, people are suffering because of where they live and their beliefs. They have to worry about losing their home and loved ones even if they just go down the street to get groceries. 

Some ways we can add gratitude in our lives are just as basic as thinking about what we’re grateful for. One way to do this is a gratitude journal. What you do is you take a journal and write down three things you’re grateful for every day. It is proven to help with your mental health according to NPR and the National Institute of Health. Some other strategies consist of meditating, thanking someone different every week, and donating to a local charity to help people who don’t have what you’re grateful for!

I hope you realize how great your life is, and how to incorporate gratitude into your life. I’m grateful that you took the time to read this, so thank you!

By Viva Randall, 7th grade student.