Gratitude Won't Save You

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Gratitude has been packaged and sold to us as a miracle cure. Be grateful and your anxiety will vanish. Start each day with thankfulness and watch your life transform. But what happens when you do all the "right things" and still feel broken? What happens when gratitude doesn't save you?

In this raw, honest finale to our season on gratefulness, we tear down the false promises and reveal the deeper truth: gratitude was never meant to rescue us from life's storms. The research is clear – gratitude practices don't eliminate depression or PTSD, but they do something perhaps more valuable. They increase our emotional resilience, reduce stress hormones, and enhance our cognitive flexibility. Put simply, gratitude doesn't erase the storm; it teaches us how to stand in the middle of it without losing ourselves.

The most authentic gratitude isn't found in perfect journal entries or Instagram-worthy meditation sessions. It's in the whispered "I made it through today" when everything feels impossible. It's the grit beneath our feet when we're crawling through hard times. True gratitude can coexist with grief and disappointment – it doesn't need to fix our lives to transform them. Through practical prompts and honest reflection, we explore how to let gratitude be imperfect but consistent, how to find it in life's cracks rather than just the highlight reel, and how it can anchor us even when it doesn't save us.

Share this episode with someone who needs to hear that their struggle with "perfect gratitude" isn't a failure – it might be the doorway to a more authentic relationship with thankfulness. Because gratitude doesn't have to be perfect; it just has to be honest.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:19):
Well, hey legends, welcome to another edition of GW
Unspoken, where we discussstuff we don't typically talk
about, but but probably should.
This is the final episode inour season on gratefulness, and
today I want to take off thegloves, because here's the truth
Gratefulness will not save you,it won't erase your trauma, it
won't stop the storm, it won'tmake everything okay, but if you

(00:40):
let it, it might just set youfree, and I'll explain how this
works.
The problem is, we keep lookingto gratitude to rescue us.
We're told it's the magicbullet.
Be grateful and you'll feelbetter.
Practice gratitude and youranxiety will probably disappear.
Hey, start your day withgratitude and the universe will
align with your vibes.
Does that sound familiar?
Sounds like marketing, right?

(01:00):
Well, this is what happens whenyou do all the right things and
you still feel broken.
What happens?
You journal, you breathe, youthank the stars and you're still
not okay.
And this is the thing that noone's actually telling you.
Gratitude is powerful, but it isnot.
It is not the cure, it's notmeant to be.
It's not there to save you.
It's there to ground you In aworld that is spinning fast,

(01:23):
where pain is unavoidable andwhere life doesn't always make
sense.
Being grounded.
That's a kind of freedom mostpeople never taste.
And let's get into the facts.
This is what the research tellsus.
A 2021 study published in theJournal of Clinical Psychology
found that gratitude practicesdid not eliminate symptoms of

(01:45):
depression or PTSD, but they didlead to increased emotional
resilience, reduced cortisollevels those ones that stress
hormone and greater cognitiveflexibility.
So what does that mean?
Gratitude doesn't erase thestorm.
It actually teaches you how tostand in the middle of it
without losing your shit.
It doesn't make that paindisappear, but it reminds you

(02:07):
that you are more than the pain.
It helps your brain stoplooping on the threat and start
scanning for strength.
And here's also the bold truththat no one's saying.
Gratitude isn't the goal, it'snot a destination, it's not the
thing you arrive at when yousort of think you have your life
together.
It's the grit under your feetwhen you're crawling through the

(02:27):
hard bits.
It's that flick of light whenyou're sitting in the dark and
unsure if morning will come.
It's that whisper of hey, I'mstill here.
Half the world has knocked youflat and the wound is still
hurting.
Gratefulness is not an end point, it's a posture, and sometimes
it's the last thing holding youtogether.
And the point is there's noperfect gratitude practice.

(02:48):
You don't have to light acandle, meditate or sit in the
lowest position to feel grateful.
You don't have to write in afancy journal or say it out loud
in front of a sunrise.
Sometimes gratitude looks likesurviving, sometimes it's saying
this sucks, but you know what Iam still showing up.
Sometimes it's thank God, Imade it through the day without
screaming into a pillow, and youknow what that actually counts.

(03:09):
In fact, that might be the mostauthentic gratitude that you do
of all time, and I think theplan is to let gratefulness be
imperfect.
You know it doesn't have to beperfect, but it needs to be
consistent Because, as we wrapup the series, here's the only
plan you probably need.
Number one stop trying to makegratitude look a certain way.

(03:30):
Let it be clumsy, let it beangry.
Let it be real, let it beperfect for you.
Two find it in the cracks.
Gratitude isn't in thehighlight reel, it's in the
moments.
No one sees the sigh of relief,the quiet strength of you.
Know what I actually kept going?
Number three let it coexist.
Let gratitude sort of livebeside grief, let it hold hands

(03:51):
with disappointment, let itstand beside hope.
Gratitude doesn't have to fixit, it just has to find you
where you are and remind youthat even here, in a mess, you
are still whole.
So here's three final promptsfor this session for you, gerald
.
Take time with them.
They're not quick, they're notlight, but they're probably real
as we end up the series.

(04:12):
Number one what am I stillholding pain around and what am
I grateful for within thatexperience?
Explore both, let them sit sideby side.
It could be that you've stillgot the tenacity to keep going
after all this time, andrealistically, that needs to be
actually celebrated aside.
It could be that you've stillgot the tenacity to keep going
after all this time, andrealistically, that needs to be

(04:35):
actually celebrated.
Number two what is one moment inyour life where gratitude just
kept you going?
And even if you didn'trecognize it at the time,
revisit that moment and reallyhonor that.
And number three how do youwant gratitude to shape yourself
, not as a performance but as away of living?
What kind of person are youactually becoming by being
reflective?
Well, that's it, my friends.

(04:55):
That's it.
That's season nine.
That's gratitude done.
We talked about the fluff, thescience, the mess, the moments,
laughed, we called out the BS,we sat in the dark and searched
for flickers of light, and youknow what?
Here's the truth Gratitudedidn't save me, it actually
anchored me, and maybe, justmaybe, it's just doing the same
for you.
And if this season has meantsomething to you, even if it's

(05:16):
just one episode that helped youpause, breathe or feel seen,
please, please, share it withsomeone that you love, and maybe
it can make the difference forthem, because gratitude doesn't
have to be perfect, it just hasto be honest.
Thank you for being here.