Finding Gratitude In Your Stepmom Journey
This is the hard part.
This is the rough part.
This is the part that hurts the most.
Throughout this journey, you’ve faced problems. You’ve faced resistance. You’ve faced silent battles with yourself.
You have felt the fear. You have felt the rejection. You have felt the isolation.
You have experienced the pain of not being acknowledged. You have experienced the sting of being forgotten. You have experienced the loneliness of not being included.
This is why so many stepmothers cannot find the gratitude they truly need. This is why it’s so hard to feel those good moments when they’re overcast by the bad ones. This is why stress takes over joy more often than it should.
It’s because being a stepmom is hard.
Finding gratitude in your stepmom journey takes time. It can take years. It can feel like a war.
And still, you soldier on.
That’s what we do.
We carry on.
However, finding some kind of gratitude in your stepmom journey is necessary for your own inner peace.
But where can you find it?
Where can you find gratitude when you’re faced with sullen attitudes?
Where can you find gratitude when you’re faced with disrespect?
Where can you find gratitude when you’re faced with adversity?
Well, you can find it in the little things. The small moments. Those flashes of goodness in the pan.
Maybe it’s a smile you weren’t expecting from your stepchild. Maybe it’s a moment of appreciation from another adult, parent, or teacher. Maybe it’s sharing your troubles with someone who understands. Maybe it’s simply accepting that things can’t be perfect right now.
It’s finding those things we take for granted — those little things — when times are turbulent — and transforming them into bigger, more meaningful experiences.
Maybe things just aren’t going according to plan right now. Maybe everything feels like it’s falling apart.
But maybe — just maybe — you can find the goodness in there somewhere. The sweet bits. The lovely parts. The things that spark the embers of fading gratitude.
This is the hard part — but it’s not impossible. And you’re not alone.
More from Michelle…
My Husband’s A Handsome Guy — Here’s Why I Needed To Remember That Things will never go back to being how they used to be.medium.com
3 Assumptions About Stepmoms — That Don’t Always Ring True Assumptions will be made.medium.com