The Gratitude of Risk

I started 2024 with a simple idea - writing down three things I'm grateful for each week. After a rough 2023 that hit my business hard, I needed to find my footing again. It seemed like a good way to reset and appreciate what I had.

At first, it was easy. My kids topped the list every time - they're my world, after all. I wrote about my job, the chances life gave me, the small wins along the way. But something weird started happening as the weeks went by. The same things kept showing up in my journal. 

Don't get me wrong - I love my kids just as much as ever, but writing it down week after week started feeling like going through the motions.

You know how when you say a word over and over, it starts losing its meaning? That's what happened with my gratitude practice. The feelings were still there, but the words felt empty. I was stuck in a loop, grateful for the same things every week, and it started to feel pointless.

Then a few weeks ago, it clicked. The problem wasn't being grateful for the same things - it was that I wasn't putting myself in situations where I could find new things to be grateful for. I was playing it too safe, sticking to what I knew, staying comfortable.

Here's what I realized: being truly grateful means understanding that nothing is guaranteed. Not our jobs, not our comfort, not even tomorrow. That sounds heavy, but it's actually freed me up to think differently. If we're not pushing ourselves into new territory sometimes, how can we really appreciate what we have?

I'm not talking about doing dangerous stuff just for kicks. But when was the last time I did something that made me a little nervous? Something where I wasn't sure how it would turn out? Those are the moments that make you feel alive, that make you grateful not just for what you have, but for what you might discover.

So I'm switching things up. Starting next week, I'm going to try something new - meeting strangers through this app called TimeLeft. It sets you up to meet new people in different places each week. Is it a bit scary? Yeah. Could it be awkward? Probably. But that's exactly why I need to do it.

There's something powerful about voluntarily stepping into uncertainty. Not knowing exactly what's going to happen or who you're going to meet - it makes you appreciate the comfortable parts of your life more. It reminds you that every good conversation, every new connection, every moment of understanding is something to be grateful for.

I'm looking forward to finding more ways to push myself this year. Not just for the sake of doing new things, but because I want to feel real gratitude again - the kind that comes from knowing things could be different, could be harder, could be gone.

It's funny - I started this year thinking gratitude was about appreciating what I already had. Now I'm learning it's also about being brave enough to want more, to risk more, to live more. And maybe that's exactly what I needed to figure out.