Gratitude for Stepmoms: The Benefits of Being Thankful Every Day by Trisha Ladogna
It’s that time of year—Thanksgiving— when we gather for a family holiday that compels those in the U.S. to count their blessings and give thanks—in addition, of course, to watching football, cooking and eating.
Taking a day out each year (with your loved ones) to reflect on what you are thankful for is a beautiful tradition worth celebration. But once a year just doesn’t seem to be enough, and, for those of us who have chosen to be stepmothers, it probably isn’t.
As avid readers of StepMom Magazine know, stepmothering is stressful. But did you know that the very act of being a stepmother places you at greater risk for depression and anxiety? A study titled “Different Challenges, Different Well-Being,” by Lisa J. Doodson, PhD, and Alistair P.C. Davies, PhD, appeared in the “Journal of Divorce and Remarriage.” In it, Doodson and Davies note that stepmothers, in general, experience “significantly greater anxiety and depression than biological mothers.”
Given the evidence, it’s all the more important that we, as stepmothers, make positive and proactive choices to deflect those odds. One way to do this is to make the grateful nature of Thanksgiving—aka gratitude—a part of your daily practice. And there’s no better time to start than this Thanksgiving!
Gratitude is about feeling thankful and expressing it. It’s about appreciating and acknowledging what we have—no matter how much or how little that may be. For what seems to be such a small action, gratitude can be hugely powerful in the world of a stepmother. …To read the rest of this article, log in to your account and download the November 2015 issue. Don’t have an account? Click here to subscribe.