As an SLP, it is easy to feel overwhelmed and stressed on a regular day. When things like schedule changes, a rush to finish work, and the indecision of whether or not to bring work home with you, all come into play before (and during) a break or change in your routine, it can increase the stress. (And being in a global pandemic in 2020 just adds to it that much more). It can make you want to climb under the covers and stay there, ignoring your work completely and the stress around it.

And stress can absolutely suck the joy right out of your work and your chosen career.

One thing that has been shown to help reduce stress and bring you back to a place of passion, joy and calm, time and time again, in study after study, is gratitude. Brene Brown talks about the power of gratitude in her research on vulnerability and wholehearted living.

Gratitude is the act of remembering and reflecting on the things that are going well, the tings that you are grateful for, and/or the things that you are thankful for. It is a way to shift your brain to notice these things, rather than take the easy route (which your brain is wired to do) and look at all that is not working or going well. It retrains your brain to focus on the things you are grateful for, even when things are hard.

Your brain is automatically going to be on the lookout for things that are threatening and not going well, and then will get stuck in a cycle of looking for more and more of these things, in order to protect you. This cycle, called the “Cycle of Stress”, and how to get out of it, is what we talk about in the SLP Stress Management Course. Gratitude is one of the ways that you shift out of the negative loop the cycle gets stuck in, because it helps you to see the positive things that your brain is trying to ignore.

According to Harvard Health, gratitude is “a thankful appreciation for what an individual receives, whether tangible or intangible. With gratitude, people acknowledge the goodness in their lives. In positive psychology research, gratitude is strongly and consistently associated with greater happiness.“

There are many ways to practice gratitude, ranging from simple to more complex and time-consuming. Since time is already one of the things that can add to your stress as an SLP, here are a few basic ways to bring more gratitude into your daily routine.

How to use gratitude to reduce stress as an SLP (and human):

• Gratitude journal: list 3-5 things you are grateful for each day
• Gratitude Meditation: mediate and reflect on the things you are grateful for (you can download an FREE gratitude meditation audio in the SLP Toolbox)
• Grateful thoughts: mentally reflect when you wake up or when you are going to bed on things you are grateful for (this can be great for helping you fall asleep)
• Gratitude together: share 1-3 things you are grateful for each night with your family/friends/loved ones (maybe send a nightly text to your BFF, share around the dinner table, or reflect while you are doing nighttime routines with your kids).

Gratitude can be a simple but powerful way to bring more joy into your day, and to diffuse the stress you feel even when the stressors and uncertainty are still there. It teaches you not to ignore the stress, but to also see the positive, joyful aspects of your day.

If you are looking for a guided way to start your gratitude practice, and reap the benefits or meditation, you can find a guided gratitude practice in the SLP Toolbox, a FREE resource library to help SLPs reduce and manage stress. You can subscribe to this resource below:

And if you are ready to learn more about gratitude, breaking free of the “Cycle of Stress”, and even more ways to realistically manage and reduce your SLP stress, make sure to check out the SLP Stress Management Course, now available as a Self-Study program.

Much Love,

Jessi