🍂 When Gratitude Feels Hollow: Making Peace with Mixed Emotions

This time of year, everyone talks about gratitude, but sometimes it feels hard to access. You may love your life and still feel heavy. You may count your blessings and still ache for what hasn’t healed or arrived yet. That doesn’t make you ungrateful; it makes you human. Suppressing sadness or frustration only confuses your nervous system, increasing stress and emotional fatigue. Genuine gratitude isn’t pretending everything is fine; it’s creating safety in your body to hold both joy and sorrow at once.

If gratitude feels hollow right now, sit with it rather than force it. The soul expands through truth, not perfection. Let your gratitude include your grief, your uncertainty, and even the dreams that haven’t yet bloomed. You don’t have to polish your pain to make it holy; it already is. And if your heart needs a gentle companion on this journey, my guided journal, Sanctuary for Sensitivity, offers a soft place to breathe, reflect, and rediscover your strength.

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