Do you feel gratitude fatigue? Yes, there is such a thing as gratitude fatigue. To start feeling gratitude fatigue you have to start feeling grateful first. Here, we are going to explain what it is and how to overcome gratitude fatigue.
When your life is not going as planned and you might be facing many challenges, it’s too easy to focus on negative things happening in your life. Maybe your career is stalling, or your love life is pretty much non-existent, or you are dealing with serious health issues. In those situations, it’s hard to remember all the blessings you have in your life.
Good things are always there. It’s just a matter of if we make an effort to focus on them. Once we lose them, we realize how important those things are in our life.
Why Do We Focus on Negative?
It’s easy to focus on the negative while focusing on the positive takes an effort. For many, this rule is something that they can easily relate to.
Many of us focus on the negative. It’s almost in our nature. We want to get rid of the uncomfortable situations while we are forgetting all the blessings we have today. Therapists and self-help gurus advise us to keep a gratitude journal to avoid negative thoughts.
Having a gratitude journal is always a good idea. Keeping track daily of each thing you are grateful in life can increase your well-being and elevate your mood. It can shift your focus from all the negativity that’s too easy to find. There is always something going wrong or something that could be better.
When you keep a gratitude journal you will realize there are way more positive things in your life than negative. We often don’t perceive things like that. Where our effort goes, our emotions are there. If we focus on the negative, of course, we won’t feel like there are more positive things in our life than negative ones.
How to Overcome Gratitude Fatigue?
What is Gratitude Fatigue?
The practice of having a gratitude journal can be transformative for your mental health. Some commit to it daily and they keep track of what they should be grateful for religiously. And what happens? After a while, having a gratitude journal can become a shallow routine that doesn’t bring appreciation and delight in our lives. You don’t feel grateful anymore for the things you used to feel grateful for before.
This can be a sign of gratitude fatigue. Your brain simply adapts to the positive feeling of gratitude that you practiced, and it can result in not such a powerful feeling.
How to Overcome Gratitude Fatigue?
Try writing a gratitude list a couple of times a week instead of writing it daily. However, when you write a gratitude journal go deeply into the topic. When you write deep entries but less frequently the results will be more positive. Writing a gratitude journal daily can lead to the feeling of shallowness where you are not as grateful as you thought you should be. Writing it less often but digging deeper for the things you should be grateful for will leave you with the stronger feeling of positivity and blessings.
Pay Attention to What Matters
Another thing to keep in mind is that gratitude starts with simply paying attention to what matters in life. Pay attention to how good things happen in your life. Maybe you met your significant other after your colleague introduced the two of you. You should be grateful for having that colleague in your life. From the other side, when things become stressful ask yourself: “Will this be important in a year?” Too often, stressful situations are not worth of negative emotions. Sometimes they are and, in those situations, you should remain focused and work on resolving the issue rather than just stressing about it. And be grateful, for having the strength to fight the issues.
It’s important to remember all the things you should be grateful for in tough times. It’s easy to be grateful and joyful when everting is going well. Write a gratitude journal when times are tough. You don’t have to write it every morning or every night before you go to bed but remember to grab your journal when times are difficult.
During tough times it’s hard to stay focused.
