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Gratitude in the Face of Financial Struggle

 by Jeanette R. Harrison, MPH

It’s the very early morning hours, and I’m awake. I went to bed at 8:00 p.m. after dinner and took a nap. What should have been a really good day—actually, a really good week—has left me feeling conflicted.

My book Bragging About You is on free promotion this week, and I plan to extend it to help more people jump-start their gratitude journey. My walking book is also doing well—it’s back in the top 100 for walking-for-exercise books on Kindle. It moves in and out of the top 100 so often that I’ve stopped announcing it every time it happens.

I also had my second interview with Bold Journey magazine. The first piece focused on resilience, and this latest one was about risk-taking. Bold Journey receives about 185,000 views a month—an incredible opportunity. I shared the news with my coworkers, but their response was lukewarm. No one asked for the link. I think it’s because I have the same job they do, and because they see my financial struggles. It feels like they look at me and think, “So what if you were in a magazine? You’re poor. You don’t have a car. You can barely get to work.”

This is the second time I have been featured in Bold Journey Magazine.
This piece is about risk taking.
I am so honored to have been selected twice by this magazine. 


Instead of acknowledging my hard-won accomplishments, they focus on what they perceive as shortcomings. Yet despite those challenges, I show up to work every single day. Even now, I’m trying to figure out how I’ll get there and back tomorrow. That $50 daily commute adds up quickly, making other achievements feel less significant in the moment. Still, I’m proud of what I’ve done—especially since I reached the top 100 on Amazon completely on my own, without a publisher or financial backing.

In my first Bold Journey feature, I shared how money has been a lifelong challenge. I’ve often been treated as though I don’t deserve basic stability. My biological mother was a single parent who struggled to provide. My biological siblings and I were neglected and abused. Our refrigerator was often empty. I was one of the children who received clothing from the school’s “Clothes Closet.”

When I first read The Magic, I found myself upset by the gratitude prompts. They asked questions like, “Did you always have food to eat?” or “Did you always have what you needed for school?” For me, the answer was no. I walked to school alone, often after eating free breakfast at a nearby church. Birthday parties were rare—I had maybe three as a child. I had two different birthday parties with two different foster families, and one birthday party with my adoptive family. Most of my clothes were hand-me-downs from my brothers, and I owned very little that was truly mine.

When I was adopted, some things changed. We always had food, though there were strict rules about when and what we could eat—a hard adjustment for a child who once lived in survival mode. We had a home with electricity and running water, and the bus took me to school. Still, I often lacked transportation home and would walk along a busy highway, ask peers for rides, or ride my bike after work. I’m lucky I didn’t crash on those long rides in my sneakers, without a helmet or pads.

My adoptive parents provided more stability, but inclusion was limited. We went on two family vacations before my parents decided it was easier to travel with their biological son and leave us with our grandmother. I always received a birthday gift, even if it was secondhand, and one year, my uncle insisted on throwing me a real birthday party. Most years, my celebration was my adoptive mom’s home-cooked dinner—fried chicken, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, salad, and chocolate chip zucchini cake.

When I attended college, I paid my own way. I was surrounded by classmates whose parents covered their tuition, clothes, and activities. I worked three jobs to make ends meet, earning $4.25 an hour. Summers were the hardest—I often went hungry just to pay rent. Scholarships, grants, and state aid helped, but it was still a struggle. And that pattern—being expected to do three times as much with ten times less—has followed me throughout my life.

So when I discovered the gratitude practice of being thankful for money, I struggled—not because I’m ungrateful, but because gratitude for something that has always been scarce is complicated. Still, I am grateful. I’ve known what it means to go without—to stretch a loaf of bread for two weeks, to make fun out of free moments, and to survive on resilience and resourcefulness.

Because of that, I’m profoundly grateful for everything I have been given.

THANK YOU FOR ALL THE MONEY I HAVE RECEIVED THROUGHOUT MY LIFE

The Best Thing That Happened Today

  1. I was featured in a second article in Bold Journey magazine.

10 Ways I Am Grateful for Money

  1. I am grateful for the toys I had as a child that someone else paid for.

  2. I am grateful for the homes I lived in that were provided by others.

  3. I am grateful to the state of Iowa for providing funds to help care for me when I was a ward of the state.

  4. I am grateful for the scholarships that helped me attend college.

  5. I am grateful for all the rides I received at no cost.

  6. I am grateful for the people who took me into their homes and provided a roof over my head.

  7. I am grateful for the donors who supported community programs I coordinated.

  8. I am grateful for the doctors who gave me medical care at no charge.

  9. I am grateful for the legal assistance I’ve received at little or no cost.

  10. I am grateful for the rent assistance I received over the past few years.

10 Things I Am Grateful for Today

  1. I am grateful I had a can of soup at home that was ready to eat.

  2. I am grateful for the stove in my home that allows me to cook.

  3. I am grateful that, by some miracle, I had the money to get to work yesterday morning. I didn’t have it and had planned to stay home, but then I received a message that my Uber was on the way.

  4. I am grateful to be featured in a magazine article for the second time.

  5. I am grateful for my appearance on The Neil Haley Show.

  6. I am grateful for the continued popularity of my book Get Your Walk On, even though I wrote it several years ago.

  7. I am grateful for my education and that I graduated from a top university in my field.

  8. I am grateful for my home, which provides safety and comfort.

  9. I am grateful for friends who celebrate my successes, even when others dismiss them because I’m not financially successful.

  10. I am grateful for the faith that has been instilled in me—the belief that everything will work out.

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