---
title: Gratitude Interventions Increase Well-Being By 25%
date: 2025-08-13T03:58:40.325524
author: Charlie M.
category: SIGNAL
---
So I was scrolling through Instagram the other morning, you know, just after getting out of bed, still squinting at the bright screen like a moth confused by sunlight, when I stumbled upon a post about gratitude. Pretty standard stuff, right? But it got me thinking about all those gratitude journals I’ve bought and abandoned. Supposedly, writing down what you’re thankful for can boost your well-being by, like… 25%? Or maybe it was 20%? Anyway, it sounds impressive.
And, okay, I remember reading somewhere—something by Emmons and McCullough, I think, who are like, the gratitude people in psychology—that if you practice gratitude regularly, your life magically becomes better. But then, what does "better" even mean? More happiness? Less existential dread while scrolling social media before breakfast? Does it make the barista's smile at my local coffee shop somehow shine brighter? I mean, I guess they did some Randomized Controlled Trials with journaling too, and it apparently worked. But, like, does it really?
I used to keep one of those journals. I would scribble things like "thankful for coffee" or "thankful for not running out of toilet paper"—you know, the essentials. But then I got distracted, naturally, by a workout app or something equally "essential." The journal got buried under a pile of gym clothes or maybe under the bed—I don't really know. And part of me wonders, even if I had kept going, would I really feel the 25% increase in my soul? Or heart? Or wherever well-being resides.
They say there's this meta-analysis somewhere out there in the vast universe of academic PDFs that confirms it. Gratitude works. It's part of the whole positive psychology wave where you can apparently hack your own emotions. Yet, here I am, still searching for my socks some mornings, definitely not feeling like I’ve hacked anything yet.
I guess I’m a little skeptical. Like, why gratitude? Maybe it's just the act of focusing on something good? But then, isn't it just a little forced? The same way I force myself to hit the gym even when I’m just not feeling it. And could there be a backlash, like when you push yourself too hard to be happy and end up more stressed? Or am I overthinking? Probably.
I keep wondering if gratitude is just another box to tick, another app to try, another routine to follow. Or maybe it's legit. Maybe someday I'll find that buried journal and start over. Or maybe I’ll delete Instagram and stop looking for answers in feel-good quotes with nice fonts. Who knows? Not me.
And maybe that's fine. Maybe I’m okay not knowing if gratitude really cranks up well-being by whatever percent. Maybe the point is just trying, or maybe it's just another thing I'll ponder while staring at my phone, sipping my coffee, and watching the sun rise a little too early.
Well, I don't really have any grand conclusions here. As with most things, I’ll probably keep muddling through it, unsure but maybe a little curious. And maybe that's my own version of gratitude, or optimism, or simply going with the flow, unsure of where it leads.