How Gratitude Journaling for 1500 Days Changed My Life
In May 2021, as the world slowly emerged from COVID-19, I was still learning how to live again. My grandmother had passed less than a year ago, and after a decade of my own illness, joy still felt fragile.
My first diagnosis at eleven led to a decade of hospitals and pain. Leaving school at thirteen made my hopes and dreams feel impossibly distant. It took many years before any form of health and living was an option. By the time I was able to start university, the pandemic hit and my grandmother died months later – I felt angry and exhausted. I questioned everything and everyone around me.
My grandmother had left such a positive impact on me and had stuck with me through all my years of sickness. My anger and despair felt like a betrayal to her memory; I didn’t want to lose the gentleness her love had nurtured in me.
I’d heard about the power of gratitude journaling. I remembered hearing people speak about gratitude as a catalyst for healing. I read about it in books and heard people speak of their experiences in interviews. My mother had even sent me a scientific study on gratitude. The concept of gratitude journaling came into my life slowly.
I’d tried before but never lasted more than a few days of listing things I was thankful for. Perhaps the culmination of the previous events finally gave me the motivation to continue. I wanted to be a person my Grandma was proud of and I know she would’ve been proud of this.
It started out of desperation. Of loneliness. A quiet plea to see joy again when the past decade had been defined by hospitals and loss. I could not make sense of how Our Merciful Lord was merciful. I was not expecting transformation, but through days, weeks, and years, I noticed a profound shift simply through the act of noticing what I already had. Fast-forward four years I have now written daily entries for more than 1,500 days.
Allah says in the Qur’an:
“And remember when your Lord proclaimed, ‘If you are grateful, I will certainly give you more. But if you are ungrateful, surely My punishment is severe.’” [14:7]
What I didn’t realise is that this promise of “more” isn’t always material. Being grateful for £10 doesn’t suddenly bring £100. Instead, the act of gratitude opened my eyes to the abundance already present.
The first few weeks of writing ten things each day felt awkward. What do I say? Is it too superficial to thank Allah for a good cup of coffee? But I persevered and after ten days, I had listed one hundred blessings. Blessings that had been there all along, unnoticed.
That morning cup of coffee soon became deeply precious. When I wrote it down, I slowed down enough to remember the aroma of the grounds, the conversation with my father, the warmth in my hands. It became more than a drink; it became a memory, a small act of connection and mercy.
Four years later, my gratitude for that same cup has grown into gratitude for my husband, who now makes it for me before leaving for work. What could have been a small, inconsequential habit became a quiet act of love, a marker of how my life has grown from the bleak, post-pandemic days of grief into one of wellness and transformation.
Those four years weren’t linear though. By 2023, I had become very unwell again and my life shrank back to what it was at 16. I wanted to give up all over again. But the two years of gratitude journaling that had already passed, had brought a new resilience and peace that wasn’t there before. In the same sickness, I was different: stronger, steadier, lighter.
The relapse was devastating but it was also an opportunity to see how I had changed. I was no longer a scared, little girl, but a young woman who had persevered and could see hope despite the darkness. Gratitude journaling was changing me, and I was only able to see this through illness.
Now, four years on from when I started journaling, my life is a beautiful web of memories where I can see just how gratitude journaling has transformed my mindset and how Allah has changed my life. Allah promised He would give us more and Allah always keeps His Promises.
I began to learn that noticing the small moments wasn’t just mindfulness, it was remembrance. It was a way to return to Allah through ordinary moments. For me, coffee became dhikr.
“Remember Me; I will remember you. And thank Me, and never be ungrateful.” [2:152]
Over time, I discovered that the easiest days for gratitude were often the hardest days of life. The mundane days of work, studies, groceries, cooking were calm but unremarkable. Yet the hardest days, the days of relapse into illness, the day when the doctor told me I may be infertile, the day the doctor scanned my heart to check it wasn’t wasting away – those were the days that gratitude became light itself.
When everything felt bleak, even one kind word, one warm meal, one smile, felt like glitter on a black piece of paper. I would write over thirty blessings in a day because I could so easily count every single fragmented blessing.
Through those dark days, I realised something profound: there may not always be something to be joyful about, but there is always something to be grateful for.
We are often told to “be strong” and “be positive”. But in the depths of despair, sometimes joy feels unreachable. Gratitude, however, offers something else – it teaches us to look outward. It doesn’t change our circumstances, but it changes our sight. I began to see that Allah’s Mercy and Kindness were always there, just waiting to be noticed.
Allah promised us increase, and my increase was peace.
Gratitude removes the pressure to feel happy when happiness is impossible. Instead, it provides us with a scaffold of strength to keep going, because even in the darkest moments, we are still being protected by The One.
Being grateful, whatever our circumstances, builds the habit of seeing goodness. Like strengthening a muscle at the gym, writing down our blessings strengthens the heart. It creates stillness, mindfulness and evidence for the future versions of us who may forget. Gratitude makes it easier to spot the golden threads of Mercy woven through pain.
I used to say to myself, “I will be happy when…” – when my health is better, when I graduate, when I get married, when everything makes sense. But over time, I realised I was simply postponing the peace that was waiting for me. Gratitude showed me that I didn’t have to wait for life to be “better” before I could notice all the goodness that was already there.
I learnt that I will never be grateful with what I receive, until I can be grateful for what I already have. Gratitude will unlock gratitude. This softened my expectations of the way I experienced daily life and shifted the way I perceived my circumstances.
Instead of searching for more, for better, for happiness, I began to search for signs of Mercy. By noticing and nurturing gratitude to our Creator, I began to feel His care in every second. Only then could I feel a peace that can only come from Him.
“Surely in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find comfort.” [13:28]
Starting a new habit can be difficult. We’re consistent for a week, miss a day and then abandon it entirely. I made many attempts to start gratitude journaling over the years but made the process too difficult for myself. I started and stopped many times. Eventually I learnt that being flexible and gentle was the only way I could persevere.
For me, the best time was before bed. I kept a notebook and pen by my bedside and made a promise to always write ten things I was grateful for. It was hard in the beginning, so I kept it simple by writing a bullet point list of ten things, then straight to sleep.
A few months into my practice, I travelled and forgot my journal. I didn’t want to break my streak, so I started journaling on my phone. Allowing myself to do it imperfectly is what helped me stay consistent.
You may start with writing one thing down in your notes app, that’s enough. A small step is still a step. Don’t let the fear of perfection stop you from opening your heart to gratitude. Writing one thing you’re grateful for each day can grow into something that you can’t yet see.
Let yourself be a beginner. And if you miss a day, that’s okay. Gratitude is still there, waiting to be noticed.
When I reflect on the girl who started gratitude journaling in 2021, I feel a tenderness towards her. That girl was exhausted, grieving, scared and unsure if joy would ever return. Gratitude didn’t fix everything, but it gave that girl a way to keep putting one step in front of the other. It showed her the Mercy and Kindness of Allah even when life felt dark.
Now, over 1,500 days later, I can see how Allah was always carrying me; how He increased me in clarity, resilience and peace. I look at my life now and don’t recognise my previous life. Gratitude was the way I learnt to recognise His care in every season of my life. Gratitude became the lens which I perceive the world.
“…If Allah finds goodness in your hearts, He will give you better than what has been taken from you, and forgive you. For Allah is All-Forgiving, Most Merciful.” […8:70]
May Allah make us among those who notice His gifts, even in their smallest forms, and may He write ease and increase into all our days.