Reclaiming Your Agency
Now, let’s flip this on its head. Instead of the victim mindset, you can say, “I’m grateful for this challenge I have to face today.” You don’t have to be grateful for the hard or bad thing itself, but you can be grateful for the opportunity for growth that comes from overcoming the challenge. Every time we overcome a challenge, we grow. If we weren’t challenged, we would stagnate. Just look at children who aren’t given enough challenges growing up; they don’t learn anything, they don’t acquire any skills.
Finding Gratitude in Difficult Moments
In any moment that you’re feeling upset, frustrated, or like a victim of circumstance, reclaim your agency by finding things to be grateful for—whether it’s about yourself or the situation at hand. You might think, “I’m grateful for the opportunity to overcome this challenge, no matter how hard it is. What can I grow from it? What can I learn from it?”
How Gratitude Changes Perspectives
Now you’ve flipped the situation, and you’ve gained control over how you feel about it. You’re approaching it from a position of strength. Your decisions matter because you’ve shown that you can change your perspective in an instant through gratitude practice. This is agency—point number one.
When you can find gratitude for the opportunity to grow from any experience, you have power over what you learn and how quickly you adapt to it.
Breaking the Cycle of Self-Judgment
This practice is about noticing things in a non-judgmental way. We’ve been trained to judge ourselves for so long, but gratitude acts as the anti-judgment. It intercepts our negative thoughts, allowing us to reclaim our agency.
The Importance of Agency
Agency is not a small thing—it’s our power, our source of strength. If we don’t use it, we’re giving away our will to the environment. But when we do use it, we restore our power. It can’t be understated how crucial this is to our mental and emotional well-being.
So, the next time you feel like life is throwing challenges your way, remember: you have the power to change your perspective. Embrace gratitude and watch how it transforms your experience.
