Finding Gratitude In The Storm: A Holiday Survival Guide
Humor, Defiance, and Perfect Imperfection
Shhhh. Be quiet for a second. Hear that? It’s the wind outside, hurling lawn furniture and pine tree branches through someone’s living room window. A bicycle wheel - probably the neighbor kid’s - rockets down the street headed nowhere. In the distance, there’s the faint crackling sound of an emergency radio, its static babbling as useless and unhinged as a congressional committee debate. If only we had the time to at least clean the darn gutters!
Turns out, watching out for an impending hurricane is an excellent metaphor for post-election America. Think about it. We’re trapped inside a rickety house on the path of a systemic category-five, helplessly watching as everything we thought was stable seems inevitably fated for destruction.
But there’s something even top meteorologists didn't see coming. Our house is clad in something they can't measure on any radar: Gratitude. You see, even amidst our current existential shitstorm, we can find reasons to be grateful. And no, I’m not talking about gratitude in the Instagram post sense, #Blessed. This isn't about pretending everything is perfect. It’s about finding those tiny sparks of joy that keep us from completely losing our minds — the unexpected kindness, the shared dark humor, the collective eye roll at how absolutely bonkers everything has become.
Like a metaphorical middle finger to despair, this brand of gratitude is raw, stubborn, and daring enough to look chaos dead in the eye and say, “Is that all you got?” Yes my friends, the situation looks dire, but darned if we're not going to patch this thing up with whatever hope, duct tape, and collective willpower we've got!
And I can hear you thinking, "You want me to be grateful? In THIS economy?” Totally fair. So why don’t I just skip the self-help non-sense and try to keep it real? Sound good? Great. Here are my top tips for surviving this season without letting dread get you down. And after you read them, why don’t you drop your own ideas in the comments?
1. You're Still Breathing (Somehow)
Let’s face it, the fact that you manage to wake up every day, put on some clothes (or not— no judgment), and get out there another day is nothing short of a miracle. Seriously, some days simply existing is an Olympic-level achievement — and you’re truly acing it! So here’s your participation trophy, hon 🏆 You should give yourself a round of applause!
2. You’ve Got A Good Sense of Humor
Home for the holidays? A sense of humor may prove to be your ticket to survival. Aunt Mimi started her annual “blah blah the economy” tirade? You got this. Simply, close your eyes, bite your tongue, and mentally create a sitcom entitled “FAFO, family edition” – coming soon to a dysfunctional living room near you. Whatever you do, though, please refrain yourself from asking out loud “How about them tariffs?” Instead, for your own survival, try internal eye-rolling. Believe me, it works so well, it's technically *art*.
3. Your Chosen Family Is Tight
Of course, sometimes the last thing we want is to spend time with our *ahem* politically-unaligned family. Enter our chosen family: our tried-and-true, premium-grade emotional support. Yes, blood might be thicker than water, but loyalty is thicker than both. Your friends are not just backup - they're your top-shelf, your war council, your ride-or-die squad. They're the ones who'll help you hide a body (metaphorically, of course 😉) or send you funny TikToks at 2 AM when they know you can’t sleep. They don't care about your drama; they care about YOU.
4. You Are Perfectly Imperfect
Forget that sanitized holiday drivel from the Hallmark channel. Real life doesn't come with perfect one-liners and quaint little TV towns. Real life happens when the turkey gets burned and your guests are on the way over. When your 80-year-old aunt gets drunk and starts hitting on your boyfriend. When you finally turn off the karaoke machine and kick your friends out of your house at 5 am. These are the stories that will be whispered, laughed about, and dramatically reenacted at every future gathering. Because in the end, the point is not perfection. The point is that we're alive, we're human, and yes, we're an absolutely beautiful mess.
5. You Still Have (Some) Freedom to Choose
Look, the system might be trying to play whack-a-mole with our fundamental rights, but they can't control everything. So in the spaces where you still have some kind of freedom to choose, do it wisely. Choose kindness. Choose boundaries. Choose to laugh so hard you snort. Choose to rally up. Get loud. Fight back with every ounce of wit, wisdom, and wild energy you've got. Show them who will have the last roar!
Remember that hurricane still howling outside our metaphorical windows? Turns out, we can do more than just survive it — we can defy its wild winds by refusing to be torn down. We can repel the raging waves of hatred and division through active participation and solidarity. We can embrace gratitude as our safe shelter, a fortress made of unexpected kindness, dark humor, and a stubborn refusal to let systemic destruction have the last word.
So happy Indigenous Peoples' Day. Happy Thanksgiving. Or as my Latina mom would say, Happy SanGivin'. Whatever you call it, however you survive it, don’t forget: You still have much to be grateful for. So here’s to you, beautiful, resilient human. We're still here – and we're just getting started. Salud!