There are many tools one can use to fight back against their mental illness. One such tool, a tool I have not used, is gratitude journaling. The idea is simple. Mental illness creates negative, intrusive thoughts, and gratitude journaling creates positive thoughts. But like I said, I haven’t used it. 

I haven’t used it because it is hard to have gratitude while working through the hell that is living with mental illness. Personally, I am angry a lot of the time. Angry at myself for having this illness. 

Originally, that was what this post was going to be about. It was going to be me venting about how ridiculous it is to have gratitude when living through your own dark tale, how ridiculous it is to have gratitude when mere existence is exhausting and you wish you could not exist anymore. 

Yet it is only exhausting, it is only ridiculous because mental illness lies and convinces you that it is exhausting and ridiculous. 

So, I am going to start being more grateful.

I am grateful for my family. I am grateful for medicine that helps, and sometimes makes life more manageable. I am grateful for God. I am grateful for spell check for not letting me sound like an idiot. And I am grateful for cheese. Because cheese is delicious. 

I put that last one in not as a joke, (Author’s Note: I am very serious about the gratitude I feel for cheese) but to demonstrate that it doesn’t have to be some big meaningful thing for you to be grateful. I bet if you are in your own dark tale that you can think of one thing, no matter how big or small it is, to be grateful for. 

And oh yea, one more thing…

I am grateful for you. Thanks for stopping by and reading. Feel free to leave comments below about what you are grateful for.