Do we sometimes get trapped?
It has been on my mind lately, if there’s a fine line between gratitude and being stuck? Because I’m sure some of us have experienced it a few times, when we felt both feelings at the same time. We’re grateful for what we have and everything we’ve done so far, but at the same time, is that an excuse to justify our fixed mindset? At first glance, it might depend on the situation we’re in, but sometimes I think it’s quite difficult to identify our own thoughts that revolving around the scenario itself, if you know what I mean.
I'm stuck. I can say it to myself, because there are some days when I feel useless no matter what I’ve done to make it better. But other days, deep down in my heart, I just felt grateful for everything, even every mistake that I’ve made along the way. So for me, sometimes it’s hard to be aware of my own thoughts. Because I don’t know about other people, but for me, being grateful has led me to easily feel enough in some cases. The kind of “feeling enough” that keeps me from even trying my best to improve the situation.
I could name a few examples, but money is the first thing that comes to mind when talking about this topic. Let's say having some amount of savings is enough for me to feel comfortable. And I try to be grateful for what I have, without questioning why I can’t earn more. Safe to say, I felt enough. But when I think about it, that mindset can also backfire to me because.. does that also mean I don’t even have the will to grow and be in a better situation?
I know that growth itself doesn’t always have to be related to money, but we can replace it with any other thing. Let's say I’m talking about skills, isn't the question still the same: if I’m grateful and feel content with my current abilities, does that mean I won’t put more effort to improve any of them?
You know what, everytime I write something similar to this, I always find myself jumping from one thing to another with poor structure, which makes me doubt whether readers will understand what I’m talking about or not😅 Do you get what I'm trying to say? Hahaha
Now, some people might be able to find a middle ground between these feelings. For example, it could be something like: we’ll still try our best to improve, but we won’t rush it because we’re already content inside. You know, honestly that’s a very pleasant position to be in, because it may also lead us to a “nothing to lose” mentality.
But, now what if we reverse the order? If I consistently feel stuck, does that always mean I’m not being grateful? Because often when we feel stuck, the word “why” comes up so many times in our heads. Why am I not making any progress? Why can’t I make more money? Why is it the same kind of life every year for me? Why? The list goes on. Those questions might arise because we feel like we’ve done our best to improve, but nothing seems to change.
But I also realize that change isn’t always visible, right? So, we really need to find the middle spot, the fine line between gratitude and being stuck. Or more like how we feel about it, because at the end of the day, we’re the ones who experience it and perceive it a certain way. Maybe were already where we meant to be and just have to keep moving forward with a better mindset. I mean, maybe all of you already those healthy mindset, so the problem is me, just me🤣
Anyway, I know there’s still so much room for improvement in how I articulate things. But this time, I’ll leave it right there😁 Thank you for reading this messy blog. I’ll appreciate it if there is any insight or continued conversation on this topic :) Have a great day friends, wherever you are!