Cultivating an Attitude of Gratitude

It is Monday. You overslept, spilled coffee on your scrubs, and pulled into the parking lot on two wheels. You barely make it into the clinical practice lab in time to meet 50+ eager nursing students ready to hold on to your every word. You take a deep breath, joggle your brain, and articulate the words that these students need. They started nursing school during a pandemic and are craving interaction and motivation. But you have taught through the pandemic and are exhausted, drained, and feel like you have nothing left to give. You love your job and being a nurse, and you know this is your calling; however, the outside world is draining your joy. You subconsciously start to silently name everything on your schedule. I need to pick up face shields, place a grocery order, attend the long list of meetings, prepare food for the youth group, get the kids to baseball practice, grade papers, squeeze in date night, meet school deadlines, and review that manuscript. Your plate is no longer full—it is overflowing, and it is no surprise that being grateful did not make the to-do list. After class, you feel defeated. You think to yourself, I guess I could survive by going through the motions, but what good does that do for anybody? You pack up your laptop, grab a notebook and pen, and head to a faculty meeting to check off another task on the to-do list. The top of the meeting agenda reads Gratitude. Gratitude is not a concept you have thought about in quite some time. It hits you hard when you try to remember the last time you lifted a thank you to God. When was the last time you looked at all the good in life? This situation occurred in the spring of 2021, and it was just the spark we needed at the Capstone College of Nursing. After this faculty meeting, a handful of colleagues joined forces to create the Gratitude Ambassadors. We knew that we all had struggled to find joy in the journey and that our co-workers were carrying heavy burdens. It became our mission to incorporate a culture of gratitude to encourage, re-energize, and show appreciation for those preparing the healthcare heroes of tomorrow. We soon found that the culture of gratitude spread like wildfire. The Gratitude Ambassadors developed multiple activities to foster an environment of thankfulness within the workplace. We placed a gratitude bulletin board in a shared area that offers interactive group involvement. The theme for August became "Take what you need." We filled the board with encouraging messages that could be removed and posted to a mirror or a computer screen or given to colleagues for motivation. In November, a bare "Tree of Thankfulness" gradually filled with life as colleagues began posting why they were grateful to be nurses. We "Decked the Halls with Gratitude" during December by placing cut-outs of seasonally inspired novelties. Colleagues used these mini-greeting cards to write positive messages about one another and post them outside office doors. As you walked our college halls, you could read positive and encouraging words about our phenomenal faculty and staff. In the spring semester, we incorporated a voluntary "Secret Pals" program where the assigned secret pal left small gifts of encouragement for another person. This activity allowed faculty and staff to learn more about each other and connect through shared personal interests. Lastly, we developed a monthly Gratitude newsletter. The newsletter offered encouragement, celebrated birthdays, and allowed team members to "shout out" other team members for their hard work and dedication. We have witnessed a shift from gloomy to grateful at our college as we practiced living out 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, and we believe the Gratitude Ambassadors played a considerable role in this transformational change. We each are blessed with a gift and must never forget that the light of Jesus in us often shines the brightest in the darkness (Micah 7:8). Our college has found light in the darkness of these challenging times, and we encourage you to use these activities to find joy in your journey.