In my last post, I talked about a crazy day where everything that could go wrong, did. That was the disaster post – all the crazy, one-thing-after another details that were certainly enough to make anyone upset. In the grand scheme things, the day wasn’t all that bad. No one was hurt. No one died. Everything turned out OK in the end. Things don’t always end up rosy, however. Sometimes, they are much, much worse. Today’s post is all about weathering those storms with grace. It’s about how to be grateful when life basically sucks.

So… how to be grateful when everything goes wrong?

So our day pretty much sucked, like a comedy-of-errors where everything that could go wrong, did. We certainly felt disappointment and worry. We said a few choice words about how useless and stupid AAA was. But instead of letting our circumstances defeat us, we chose gratitude instead.

When we told other people about our adventure later, someone asked me how to be grateful when life hands you so many curveballs. I told her the simple answer. How to be grateful? By focusing on what went right, and knowing it could always be worse, but wasn’t.

A second’s difference, and those rocks would have landed on our windshield instead of the road. Larger or more numerous rocks would have done a lot more damage. We might not even be here to tell the tale at all.

Because of the kindness of strangers, we weren’t stuck on the side of the road, in the middle of nowhere, overnight, waiting for an ax murderer to attack us. Those same strangers even returned with snacks!

The van has a DVD player, so we snuggled up in the backseat with the kids to watch a movie while we waited for AAA to arrive. The tow truck driver did, at least, take us into town where we had cell phone reception. And options. Not to mention, it’s always a good day when you don’t get chopped up by an ax murderer 🙂

The Uber driver could have told us to forget it, or never bothered to accept the fare at all. (He told us that there are only six Uber drivers in Sedona, so it’s very possible that NO ONE could have accepted the fare.) We all got home safe and sound – that night. And we had the money to repair the van.

How to be grateful when life sucks: secret ninja move

Basically, we could either laugh or cry, and we chose to laugh. After all, laughter is a lot more healing than anger, which doesn’t solve anything. With so many things in that situation out of our control, we did have control over our attitudes. We chose gratitude.

But it’s not like we were born with ever-grateful hearts or anything. That kind of gratitude takes practice. You can’t just wait for a major catastrophe like a serious illness or natural disaster, and expect to be a grateful person overnight. The real secret to how to be grateful when life sucks is to practice gratitude when life is good. Always. Make it a daily habit.

It takes consistent effort to develop an attitude of gratitude that allows you to see the brighter side of things. One habit of many successful people is listing things they’re grateful for every day.

I used to list them in my head. Then I created my Radiant LIfe™ Gratitude Journal to make my gratitude more intentional. It combines gratitude with affirmations and desires in a powerful 5-step process to change your outlook, boost your confidence, and create a more Radiant Life™. I believe intentions become more powerful when you write them down.

Now, this “adventure” was hardly a catastrophe. But gratitude muscles are built gradually. By practicing gratitude daily and intentionally writing it down in my Radiant LIfe™ Gratitude Journal, I know I’ll be better able to weather the truly major storms of life. And you will, too.

How has the practice of gratitude transformed the way you handle tough times? Leave a comment below.

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