Some days feel like you’re stuck in the messiest part of your own story. You know the chapters—where everything feels slow, heavy, confusing, or downright exhausting. The pages where you’re doing your best but it still feels like you’re falling short. It’s easy to look at those moments and think the whole book is going downhill. But those aren’t the chapters that define you. They’re just the ones you happen to be reading right now.
And today, with Thanksgiving in the air, there’s something grounding about that reminder. Gratitude isn’t about pretending the hard chapters don’t exist. It’s about noticing the quiet strength that’s kept you moving through them. It’s about acknowledging the small, unglamorous victories—getting up when you didn’t want to, showing up when it was easier not to, trying again when yesterday drained you. Sometimes the most meaningful things to be thankful for are the ones you almost overlook.
We rarely give ourselves credit for the parts of growth we can’t see. We notice the struggle, not the shift. We feel the uncertainty, not the alignment quietly happening underneath. You don’t realize you’ve grown until something that used to break you suddenly doesn’t. You don’t recognize your progress until a moment arrives where you handle things differently—calmer, stronger, clearer. And even then, you might miss it because you’re already worried about the next thing.
Holidays have a way of making us pause, even if just for a moment. And in that pause, you can look around and realize that even if everything isn’t perfect, even if you’re still figuring things out, you’ve made it this far. That counts for something. Maybe more than you think. Gratitude doesn’t erase the tired or lost or unsure pages, but it does remind you that you’ve survived every chapter you once thought you couldn’t.
Sometimes growth feels like failure because it’s uncomfortable, unfamiliar, and slower than we want it to be. But growth is rarely loud. Most of the time it’s subtle—like soft rewiring happening beneath the chaos. You don’t always notice it while you’re in the middle of it, and that’s exactly why these moments feel so uncertain. You’re not meant to see the whole picture yet. You’re meant to trust that the work you’re putting in is shifting something, even if you can’t name it.
Think about all the past chapters in your life that once felt impossible—how you moved through them, how you changed because of them. Back then, you didn’t realize you were building a version of yourself that could hold more, handle more, hope more. This season will be no different. And maybe today, gratitude can be your bookmark—a small reminder that even the unfinished parts of your story hold meaning.
So if the page you’re on feels heavy, don’t assume it’s the whole story. Don’t mistake discomfort for defeat. You’re not stuck—you’re transitioning. You’re not failing—you’re forming into someone stronger than before. Trust that something is happening beneath the surface, even if it’s not visible yet.
You’re still in the middle of your story, and that’s a beautiful place to be. The best chapters don’t come from having it all figured out—they come from making it through the parts where you almost gave up but didn’t. And today, of all days, give yourself a moment to be thankful for the courage it took to get here—and the hope quietly carrying you forward to whatever comes next.
Kenrick Vaz 