Attitude of Gratitude

Gratitude usually comes to the forefront around this time of year. Thanksgiving is a time that many people reflect on all the things that they are thankful for, and then as December rolls around, it stays a hot topic. It seems as though giving thanks and giving in general becomes a popular theme on the news, on social media, and in conversations.

I love this time of year. I love the holiday season for all the typical reasons like the lights, decorations, music, family gatherings, and overall cheeriness. But more so, I love the thought of looking at my life, focusing on all the good people and things that I have, and reflecting back on my year.

Gratitude is a value that we, as teachers at GCMS, have been trying to instill in our students. At the end of each day, students and staff reflect on three things that they are grateful for that day. This practice has been valuable in teaching kids that a bad day doesn’t equal a bad life and to be mindful of the good things during that day instead of focusing on the bad. I absolutely love the idea of this. I love gathering together at the end of the day and focusing on the good, sending our students home with the good things about the day at the forefront of their minds instead of the not-so-good things that happened that day. I’ve also found this very powerful for myself, modeling in real time for students this value that we are proclaiming as important. Sharing my three gratitudes not only helps students get to know me better, but by including THEM in my three things each day reminds them how important each of them is to me.

I’ve always strived to be transparent with my students, so when I made a personal goal for myself this December, they were the first ones I shared it with. At the end of Thanksgiving break, I was reflecting on things that I could do in my personal life to show my gratitude for the amazing tribe of people that I have around me. I came up with a 31 Day Letter Writing Challenge. I decided that I was going to write a handwritten note each day of December, 31 in all, to people in my life telling them why I appreciate them. I invited my students to participate with me and gave them the option to do all 31 days or to do the 15 days of December that we are in school. I also give little reminders whenever we have a few minutes of downtime for kids that may just want to write a note here and there throughout the month.

I’m a couple weeks into this challenge, and already I’m noticing a different attitude within myself. I’m more cognizant of the people around me, and take time to reflect on the things about each person that I appreciate or admire. On days that I feel rushed, I make sure to make time to write a note anyway, showing that even on the busiest of days, there’s always time.

As I sat down at the beginning of the month to brainstorm my rough draft list of letters I would write, I realized that I have more than 31 people in my life that I want to write to. This may seem silly, but looking at a piece of paper with the names of people that I know love and care for me, was more powerful than I had ever imagined. As someone who struggles with depression and anxiety, it’s very easy for me to talk myself into the fact that no one sees me, no one understands me, and that no one cares about me. Looking at the list of people I care about and appreciate, I came to realize that no matter how much I want to tell myself those “stories” in my head, they just aren’t true. I have people in my corner always, whether I let myself see them or not.

In addition to our letter writing and daily gratitude reflections, my base camp kids and I came up with another great idea to show others how grateful we are for them. We decided that throughout the month of December, the 15 days that we are in school, that we would be focusing on random acts of kindness. Each day, we would work on doing random acts of kindness for the people in our lives, and write each random act on a piece of paper that we would make into a paper chain. As we sat and brainstormed our idea, we set a goal to make our chain longer than the length of our classroom. Little did they know, our chain would meet that goal less than halfway through our 15 days. This giant paper chain may be a giant pain in my butt to store in my already tiny classroom, but looking at it brings me so much joy in knowing that each link in the chain means that one of my students did something kind for another person. Each letter we write, each door we hold open for someone, each time we help someone out, is all memorialized in our base camp chain. When we started this, I had no idea what it would end up turning into. We still have another week and a half to go, but this whole process, and all the conversations that have come out of it, are totally worth the gigantic, colorful chain taking over the space above my desk.

There are a lot of things that I feel like aren’t going right in my life. There are a lot of things that I wish I could change, a lot of impatience and frustration that cloud my thoughts as I lay in bed at night. But even through all of that, the past couple of weeks have shown me just how much I have to be thankful for in this life. Whether it is the giant chain that grows exponentially each day in my classroom, the sweet notes I get on my desk from my students, making someone’s day with one of my letters, or hearing multiple 6th grade voices name me as one of their gratitudes that day, I’m realizing over and over that I’m so very blessed.

Throughout this holiday season, regardless of where you find yourself, I encourage you to find those little things in your life that bring you joy, the things that you are grateful for. Tell those in your life how much you appreciate and love them in your own way. In this time that can be so hard for many, be the light that shines bright in the darkness of this world. What can you do this holiday season to show your attitude of gratitude?