Samantha Cook, the host of the More Than Mom podcast, is excited to talk about the topic of gratitude in a multiple point of view. The conversation is about the importance of expressing gratitude, even for difficult situations. A friend suggested writing down things to be thankful for, including the good that comes out of difficult situations. For example, being grateful for the people who hurt you because it gave you a chance to stand back up and push for more. It can be hard to express gratitude for difficult circumstances, but it is important to recognize the lessons and growth that can come out of these experiences.  They emphasize that not everyone will recognize and reward the effort that is put in, but it is still necessary for personal growth. They encourage listeners to be an excellent person, set their ego aside, and serve others. Ultimately, they stress the importance of being grateful for the difficult and good moments in life, as it is in these moments that the most growth takes place.

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00:00 Exploring Gratitude

0:01:09 Reflecting on Gratitude: Acknowledging the Difficulties and Celebrating the Goodness

0:08:12 "Growth Through Gratitude: Embracing the Uncomfortable for Personal Development"

0:10:19 Reflection on Gratitude and Taking Ownership of Life

Follow Samantha Here: @samantha.cook14 @morethan.mompodcast

Sam

Hey, everyone, and welcome back to the More Than Mom podcast. I am your host, Samantha Cook, and I am just super excited. We came off a really great week with that interview with Jessica Clawson. And, you know, me and my family just got back from a trip at the beach, and it was a great time outside. It was a great time spending time in the sun, all that good stuff. I always love to travel with my family, just mostly because it is a great time for us to get away and explore somewhere new and enjoy all the wonderful goodness of what God has created in our world.

Sam

And so just coming off of that and feeling lots of gratitude towards the things in my life, I wanted to talk about gratitude in a multiple point of view here on this podcast today. And a lot of us know gratitude in the way of, like, thank you for what we have. I'm so grateful for the job, the house, the children, the families, the things that are always going really right, but also sometimes gratitude for the things that we've been through that may not be so easy to be grateful for.

Sam

And a friend shared with me one time was just like, just encouraged me to write down thankful for the things that I've been through and explain that out so you could talk about the things you've been through and the goodness that came out of them. And so what I wrote down was just thank you to anyone who hurt me because you gave me the chance to stand back up and push for more. I'm not your hurt and that you believe you're experiencing from being around me.

Sam

I hope that you're not struggling anymore. I thought this was a really interesting exercise because a lot of times we want to just write down, oh, I'm grateful for my family, I'm grateful for my businesses, I'm thankful for my podcast, I'm thankful for the things that are super easy to be thankful for. But a lot of times there's harder things that we have to be grateful for in order to move forward and be better and stand back up when we get pushed down or knocked down by life. So a lot of times in the roles that we have, not only as moms, but as a wife, as business owners, employees, sisters, daughters, granddaughters, all that kind of thing. And so for me, I don't have a great relationship with my biological father anymore. For me, it was such a weird thing to be grateful for, because sometimes when you have to walk away from a situation that seems ideal, you always want to keep your family in one unit.

Sam

Coparenting is a hard thing to do, and obviously I understand why people have to do it, that kind of thing. But ultimately, the goal is to keep the family unit that you started. And there are days that I just have to be grateful. One, that my mom chose to step away from that situation because it ultimately changed our lives forever. To be grateful for her stepping away from a person that wasn't serving us well or going to take our lives in a better direction. And so as a child of somebody who had to make a really tough choice, I'm so grateful that she did because that hard step made our lives totally different.

Sam

And so when we have to be grateful for situations that are less than ideal is like, we have to look back and see what is God protecting us from? Because ultimately there's a phrase like rejection is protection. But a lot of times it's like, what are we supposed to learn? What is God working on in us that we're stepping away from the situation, that we have to be grateful that we walked through a crappy situation and be more than what that is?

Sam

And I think for me and probably many others is like, it gives us a hope that what we walked through is going to benefit others in the long run. It's like why we've walked through some of the things we have. One I know that even one scenario of a less than ideal situation I walked through was able I was actually able to spot that in another person and get them the help that they needed. So it was actually something I had walked through that helped another person stop that situation in their lives.

Sam

And for that I'm eternally grateful because it saved one more person from a life filled with trauma that they didn't need to have. And so I've just walked through many situations where I'm like, okay, why on earth did I go through that? God, what are you teaching me? What are you saying to me right now that I need to get better at whether that's even showing people love in a way that maybe I haven't done. So most of the people in my life, and I'm sure yours too, we are just like, easy to please.

Sam

You don't need a lot of extra bells, whistles, all that kind of stuff to be around them. And for me, it's like when people are not like that, it can be kind of hard for me sometimes because I'm like, hey, I'm a pretty easy going, laid back person. I just don't need a lot. And so it's kind of hard for me to see that in people who do need a lot more because that's just not something we all are really good at, our love language that we have. And sometimes it's a lot harder to love other people in their love language. I'll use the example, me and my husband, his love language is words of affirmation and probably quality time. I'm more of a quality time physical touch. My husband does not love to be touched to the excessive point that I do. I love hugs. I love sitting next to people.

Sam

I love just an arm around you kind of thing. And he is like the exact opposite of physical touch. It's kind of funny, but I'm also not a big words of affirmation person. And so for me, that's not something that I really value. So sometimes it's hard for me to be like, hey, you've done a great thing. You're such an amazing person, just because it's really not something that fills my cup up. I'm more of an action type of person. And sometimes he just thrives well in being told, like, hey, you're such an amazing dad, you're such an amazing provider, all those things, all those roles that he is in. And so I have to remember and I'm sure I'm not the only person, but that we have to love people the way that they are loved, not just the way that we love ourselves.

Sam

Because a lot of times, that's where our ego steps in and says, well, hey, this is what's best for us. This is what's best for me. And a lot of times we have to just put that aside. I'm not saying everybody's perfect and we all have to put our egos aside and do what's best for everybody all the time because that's not necessarily healthy either. A lot of times we have to take care of ourselves in order to take care of people better. But we have to set our egos aside to be grateful for the hard moments, moments where we feel the most under pressure, things like that. Because they give us so many opportunities to one, take a better step forward. So that way we can love people well and set aside what we think we need in order to make situations work better.

Sam

I know that sometimes I'm like, hey, I don't want to go out of my way. I don't want to do this because I've got so many other people depending on me, needing me, XYZ. So sometimes I can just be like, get my head down, focus on what needs taken care of, be mom, those types of things. It's in those moments where like, hey, I'm just existing in the comfortable. I'm grateful for all the good things because these are the things I love to do, instead of being like, hey, how can I step outside my comfort zone and be better?

Sam

Not everybody's going to do that for you and reciprocate that in your life, but these are the opportunities where you have to be an excellent person, step up, say, hey, this is what I bring to the table. This is how I'm going to get uncomfortable today. I'm going to be grateful for the uncomfortable and I'm going to set my ego aside and make sure that this is the best thing possible, not at the expense of yourself, but at the cost of growth is like, you get to be rewarded in that. And I mean, you don't do it for the reward, but you will be rewarded, whether that's on this earth or in heaven is like you still stepped aside, the easy, the comfortable to step into that uncomfortable range and say, hey, I can be a bigger, better person.

Sam

I can get uncomfortable, and how can I serve others around me? So that way they get to live in that gratitude not only of difficult situations, but the goodness that comes from being around a next level person like yourself. So in all this today is like the biggest takeaways here is that we got to be grateful even in the hard moments, because usually that's where you find the most growth is in those uncomfortable situations. And two, you get to learn a lot about yourself and what God has called you to. And many times that's not always the easy route, but living in that gratitude for not only the good things, but the bad things that we walk through. And two is just helping you find your place in your community because you want to be that hope generator. You want to be that person that people love to be around, because you want people around you to be successful, you want them to be healed and thriving. And that comes from a place of growth, one, within yourself, but also you are exhibiting that excellence, that ownership of your life, good or bad, and really helping people move forward and see that it's possible even when it doesn't feel like it. So I hope you guys gained something from today. Go out, get grateful for the uncomfortable, write the things down that maybe haven't been the most ideal situations in your week and just pray over them, be grateful for them, and look for the opportunities that God is placing in your lives.

Sam

Just step forward, be excellent, and take ownership of those situations. So I hope you guys have a great rest of your week and we'll see you next time.