Appreciation

Being appreciated isn’t a basic need for survival as humans. If we go without food, water, or air for too long, our body dies. If we go without love, gratitude, or appreciation, our physical body may not look any different on the outside, but I believe it affects our mental health a ton!

There’s been many studies done about how gratitude and expressing appreciation can have profound effects on our mood and well-being. On the flipside, there have also been many studies about how ACE’s or adverse childhood experiences seem to be correlated with mental health struggles in adulthood, and usually those adverse childhood experiences are a part of an upbringing that was lacking in love, attention, and affection.

Let’s make a little garden analogy, since I’ve been into gardening lately. Our bodies do not need fruits and vegetables to survive. Our bodies will continue to function, even if all we feed it is junk food and soda pop. However, how much better do our bodies function and feel when we do feed ourselves fresh fruits and veggies, whole foods that came from the earth. Even my mind feels better when I’m putting real food in my body instead of sugar and processed crap.

I believe it’s the same with love, gratitude, and appreciation. We can survive without it, and from the outside people might not even be able to tell. But on the inside, where it matters, it can be devastating. It can manifest in anxiety, depression, anger, isolation, risky behavior, even suicide.

I know because I’ve been there, more than one time in my life, and I think the Lord has given me a unique ability to see patterns and make correlations that are important and have helped bring me healing. Maybe they can help you too.

Feeling loved can be challenging, especially if you grew up in a broken, unloving home. If you were abused or neglected, mistreated or abandoned, these things don’t create loving, safe, happy home environments. 

But I still believe we need to feel loved in order to thrive. For me, in my life, this is where I found Jesus. He loves me unconditionally, no matter what. It doesn’t matter what I’ve done, or even what I continue to do. His love for me never changes, and he is always there ready to welcome me back into his loving embrace. He is always there for me, and it was really that unwavering, unconditional love of the Father that saved my life.

Losing my biological dad in June reminded me that we cannot depend on the things of this world to bring us what we need. People will always fail us. They will always leave us, but His love never fails, and His love will never leave us or forsake us.

I believe that part of receiving God’s unconditional love is doing my best to pass that on to others here on earth during my time here.

Love, gratitude, and appreciation of others can be freely given, at no expense to us. In fact, we may even gain and grow from the experience in ways we didn’t expect.

You see, when we love and appreciate others, and express gratitude, not only does it boost our own “feel good” hormones, it makes those around us feel special and important and loved. And that just circles me back to my original point, which was the fact that being appreciated is not a basic survival need. We can go without it, but we can also freely give it. If a compyliment or thank you for a job well done can help build up those around us, while also improving our own mindset and attitude, why wouldn’t we want to do that?