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There is something sacred about starting fresh with the new year. There is an air of hope and belief. Hope is something that is necessary for survival. Without hope, we have no motivation to move forward when facing life’s challenges.
As a physician, researcher, and scientist, who has faced many health challenges over the past 12 years, the new year is a time of reflection. When I was misdiagnosed in 2013, I had to make tough decisions. I was an ER doctor who could no longer work the long hours required by this role. Since then, my body has progressively gotten worse. It has reminded me of what I can and can’t do.
Despite all of life’s hurdles, I continue to maintain an air of hope that things will one day get better. The only things that have kept me going are this hope and having faith.
I knew that everything in life happens for a reason, and that asking, “Why?” was not getting me anywhere. So instead of feeling defeated, I asked, “How? How can I get through this? How can I have hope?” The answer to all of this was gratitude. In everything I did, whether I felt it or wanted it, I said Thank you.
This positive mindset helped me look at everything differently. Instead of viewing obstacles with exhaustion, I looked at them with an air of gratitude. There was a sense of appreciation for every challenge.
As a result of my wisdom study, gratitude was identified as a large part of the third element, positivity, in my Common Wisdom book, which defines wisdom as eight elements: resilience, kindness, positivity, spirituality, humility, tolerance, creativity, and curiosity.
A sense of gratitude can provide you with new hope and new perspectives in 2026.
So, as this new year falls upon us and you come up with your resolutions, think about how you can be more grateful. It can bring you more joy and make you a healthier person.
To help you find hope in the new year, here are three ways to focus on gratitude more:
1. Say Thank You to Everything
Anything you take part in should start off with you looking at it with the goal of saying thank you. If you have a medical condition, be grateful that you know about it and are managing it. If you have difficulty with a sensation, be grateful it is still there. The list of opportunities to be grateful is endless.
2. Instead of Saying Why, Ask How
Think about how this situation can benefit you. Ask yourself: “How can I be grateful for this element of my life? How could this situation be worse?”
Remember that there are people in worse situations. For example, if going up the stairs is difficult, remind yourself that you are able to go up the stairs. Be grateful that you have this strength because there are others who can’t. There are people who have limited mobility who would never be able to go up or down stairs. As another example, if you have joint pain, be grateful that you have a joint and that you can feel pain.
3. Embrace Lessons Learned
I now view my health challenges as a gift. These obstacles have changed my life and taught me so much. The most important lesson I have learned is that in every situation, you can be more positive, and that things can always be worse.
This experience has taught me that positivity and grief can coincide and are not mutually exclusive. I am sad that I can’t walk and lack independence. I am sad that I have no control over some of my body’s functions, but I am grateful that despite the difficulty, I can still move around, and that my mind is intact.
As you think about the new year and your resolutions, think of it all with an air of gratitude. How can you be more grateful for the small things? Remember that you deserve to be happy and feel joy. Everything should be viewed with a question of how you can incorporate gratitude into it.
Find ways to replace your fear with gratitude. While you can’t control your environment or physical challenges, filling your mind with more gratitude can make a significant difference in how you view things, which is something you can control. And the good news is that it is now easier than ever to make gratitude a part of your life, with so many tools available to teach us how to appreciate what we have.
