Jason's Story - Face Down
I started using the Gratitude app on July 10th, 2020. I am a psychotherapist and I finally told myself that I need to follow through on one of these exercises if I am going to keep asking my clients to do them as homework.
Later that night I was in my in-laws' swim spa. When I was walking home I was very likely hit by a car as I was found face down on a busy road by my house unconscious.
When I finally woke, I woke to a sea of light from ambulances, fire trucks, and police cars. It was truly an iconic day to start the gratitude app and very scary for my family and me.
I went to the hospital and got x-rays and scans taken of my body. The result of this incident was a very bruised-up body and a shoulder injury that still has not reached full recovery to this day.
Ever since I have started using the app, I have woken up at 4:30 a.m. to work out, go to work at my state job during the day till 4:00 p.m. and go to my private practice and work until 7:30 to 8:00 p.m. daily.
I knew if I was going to follow through on a gratitude assignment, I would need reminders and I would need it to be conveniently woven into my life on the go. If these features are not in place, it simply will not work for my lifestyle.
One of the features I like about this app is that it provides reminders for zen, affirmations, and gratitude journaling.
It feels to me that the app is growing and offering more as time goes on which is needed because even being positive and grateful can be redundant and feel like it's not worthwhile.
This is evidentially true because many of my clients generally do these exercises for less than a week.
Using this app through my physical rehabilitation and getting back into my life at a full capacity has been immensely rewarding. I have learned that you have to commit to this process as you would to marriage.
I look at it as a marriage. On the days when I feel like not doing it at all, I do the bare minimum. I will write three very brief affirmations. I will read the Zen quotes, and I will write three very minimal gratitude points at the end of the day.
Now, when I am feeling good, I write immensely in my affirmations in the morning and gratitude points at the end of the day. When I am feeling good, I get very dramatic about my affirmations and my gratitude.
I have taken time to study what affirmations are most relevant to my life on any given day and get very dramatic when I do the counterpoints to what I consider to be problems or deficits in my life.
Such as, if I was feeling weak, an affirmation will be, "I am very strong and having an abundance of energy today."
You can speak and think realities into your life. I know this through my own journey and as a psychotherapist.
It is all self-evident when you realize that negative thoughts create negative emotions that create negative behaviors which in the end all create a negative reality.
Being positive is not popular. Being cynical is popular. We need to take this challenge personally and collectively for self-growth.
Overall, my mental health and mindset have been incredibly better. It keeps the lows from going lower and it has my days of feeling well getting dramatically better.
I make no apology for feeling dramatically good in life. I certainly make no apology for promoting this app as it is a well-designed tool to improve the quality of your life.
I encourage feedback and support from one another and utilizing this formula to better one's life. It is not only possible but also doable. I take on the extra challenges that are offered outside of the usual gratitude journaling every time they come up.
I read the stories. I have not missed a day since July 10th of 2020. I will keep using this app every day. There may be a day when I miss an affirmation or a gratitude posting, but that will be something that is just coincidentally missed and I will make up for it the following day.
Rehabilitating my shoulder through this period of time has been incredibly painful. Reconditioning my mindset has been absolutely necessary through this process.
I took 6 months off of consuming alcohol as well to improve my health. There were times where I thought my shoulder was not going to get better at all and I would have to visualize people that were paralyzed and told that they cannot walk to work harder. Always examine the limits that we set for ourselves and break those limits down.
Thank you for reading my story.
