A few months back, I was nearing my 1-year anniversary of working on Kurative Co. As I reflected on how far I’ve gotten, I still wasn’t content with the progress I’ve made. If you’re ambitious like me, you know that feeling of having big goals and not being satisfied until you reach them. 😨
I wondered if ambitious people are generally less happy than others. Are happiness and ambition on the opposite ends of a spectrum? I wanted to be happy with my life, but I also wanted to continue being ambitious. Was that possible?
Assuming my hypothesis was correct, in order to be happy, I believed I had to at least curb some of my ambition. Otherwise, I’d continue to work non-stop, push myself too hard, and be a detriment to my own mental health.
After talking with my therapist and girlfriend about my lack of appreciation in my journey so far, both of them suggested I try adding another aspect of journaling to my daily routine: Gratitude Journaling. 📝
Over the course of 40 days, I challenged myself to include gratitude journaling in my regular reflection routine so I could at least take a step back and acknowledge that I’ve made progress.
At first, it was difficult to find things I was grateful for every day, but it was nice that I actively searched for things to write down. Over time, it became easier to appreciate the little things.
I didn’t succeed in practicing gratitude every day. Some days I missed it completely and other days I made it up on the next day.
Gratitude as a life-changing habit
But by the end of my challenge, I learned two things:
Gratitude journaling does NOT completely curb my ambition. But it does help me be grateful for any small progress I’ve made so far.
My biggest critic was my inner voice telling myself I wasn’t doing enough and therefore was not good enough. Once I curbed that inner voice, I felt more peaceful at the end of the day.
After completing my challenge, I was able to appreciate the little things in life more, find the silver linings in not-so-ideal situations, and find inspiration everywhere!
I decided to continue my gratitude journaling routine and highly suggest you do too.