As the holiday season approaches, polls show that Americans are experiencing higher levels of stress than normal. But what if gratitude holds the key to a different outlook?
The Monitor reached out to people whose jobs can be especially challenging: police officers, firefighters, and attorneys. What they told us might surprise you.
Jordan Rabani-Jenkins, an immigrant legal defense attorney in the Santa Barbara, California, area, says she manages the impact of competing pressures by journaling, spending time with loved ones, and most of all, expressing gratitude.
Why We Wrote This
Daily life or major events can dim the light of the holidays. Many Americans are saying that a focus on expressing gratitude can help people unlock the joy of the season.
When her work seems hopeless, she reminds herself that she is grateful to be doing meaningful work that can help others navigate a very difficult process.
When you are doing something you believe in, she says, “inherently, it’s less stressful in that moment. The odds of winning are much greater for the client if they have an attorney representing them. I’m grateful that at least I can be there to help.”
Using gratitude to improve well-being is not an entirely new idea, but researchers are giving it closer attention as a powerful tool. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, for instance, reports that expressing gratitude can help to alleviate stress. And a 2024 poll conducted for the mental-health provider, A Mission for Michael, found that while 70% of Americans reported feeling stress during the holidays, 84% of Americans found that expressing gratitude provided relief.
There are also signs that growing numbers of Americans are finding that the holidays are providing the kind of relief they were intended for: According to the annual “Healthy Minds” study by the American Psychiatric Association (APA), 44% of Americans said that the holidays had a positive impact on their mental health, up from 38% in 2024 and 2023.
The holiday season can be difficult, because of finances, family relations, or grief, said APA President Theresa Miskimen Rivera in a press release about the study. “It is important to remember that … sometimes the best gift we can give ourselves and our loved ones is living in the moment and being mindful of nurturing our personal connections.”
In a new podcast, social scientist Arthur Brooks says that people have mistakenly believed that gratitude is a fixed personality trait one is born with. He argues that gratitude is a skill that you can train, and it becomes more powerful the more you practice it.
“When you are a grateful person, when you’re authentically expressing gratitude, you get happier and so does everybody else. This is a true win-win,” he says. Citing research by numerous scientists, Dr. Brooks says that gratitude interrupts bad moods, and turns attention from what we lack to what we have.
If gratitude can be taught, one Ohio school could be modeling a way to do it. Monroe Local Schools set up a microphone in the hallway with a sign that read, “Tell us something good that happened today.” One student said he woke up on time and didn’t miss the bus. Another said she had gotten 100% on her German test. A third said that she and her sister are finally getting along.
Kristopher Radder/The Brattleboro Reformer/AP
For first responders and others who encounter demanding situations as a regular part of their workday, personal connection can be a source of support.
In College Park, Maryland, a police officer named Sean and his squad will be on duty this Thanksgiving. And at the end of the day, they will do what they usually do: have a cookout at the police station.
Sean says he will grill a turkey, and the others will bring side dishes. Having close personal connections with people upon whom your life depends is normal, he says, and the squad treats each other as family.
“We are always looking out for each other,” he says. A veteran officer, Sean says he has become acclimatized to the daily challenge of keeping the peace in a college town, home of the University of Maryland. In addition to cooking, which he calls his “happy place,” he also does a lot of gaming, and he finds a meditative peace from building large Lego sets. Recently, his team bought him the Star Wars Millennium Falcon set as a birthday gift.
When incidents occur, Sean and his fellow officers sit together and talk things out. “The stereotype is where cops fall into alcoholism. Everybody has their different ways of dealing with stress. Some people need to talk it out. Some people, it doesn’t affect them at all. Most of the time, we like to go out to get food.”
In Washington, D.C., a firefighter named Patrick says that after 22 years on the job, he knows that what he is doing makes a difference in people’s lives. His strategy for dealing with accumulated work stress is lifting weights, and practicing jiujitsu. After a particularly rough day, he might talk with his wife, a registered nurse, to get things out, although he is careful not to speak in front of their young daughter.
In more tragic cases, Patrick, who like Sean asked not to be named because he is not authorized to speak with the news media, says his squad gathers around the firehouse kitchen table to talk. “We talk about what happened, as much for the other guys as for ourselves,” he says.
In Santa Barbara, Ms. Rabani-Jenkins says she has her work cut out for her this holiday season. She is working with 15 families who have applied for asylum. Typically, asylum-seekers are given two to three years to make their case in immigration court, but she says that in February, she was informed by immigration authorities that all 15 of her families would be put on the fast track for “removal” proceedings, or deportation.
Ms. Rabani-Jenkins says she keeps herself focused and positive by taking a few minutes at the end of the day to journal. She writes down three things she is grateful for, and often the most helpful notes are “hyperspecific” things she achieved at work. But she is also grateful for the calm presence of her husband, Omeed, a software engineer and manager, and their dog Gus.
“I’m so grateful that Omeed is with me through this,” she says. “He makes it easy to look for the good.”
