Being grateful is not as simple as people make out. Sometimes it takes work, patience – even imagination
A friend of mine, let’s call her Lily, cries easily – tears of joy and sadness – and, like me, is moved by acts of kindness. We are the ones weeping during Lord Of The Rings because the Hobbits are just such sweet friends; or applauding the teen helping an elderly lady with her bags (even if he shouts “freaks!” at us).
But I have something Lily doesn’t: a protective layer of cynicism. It makes me resistant to manufactured sweetness and made-up concepts (unlike Lily, who happily sends me slideshows of flowers overlaid with a fake inspirational quote: “get up offa that thing” – Gandhi). I don’t know how empaths like Lily function. It must be exhausting, feeling all the time.