Why gratitude is keeping you stuck in what you don’t want

We’re officially in the “season of gratitude,” and with Thanksgiving less than a week away (how did that happen?!), it’s nearly impossible to escape the messaging about appreciation, positivity, and focusing on the good.

Gratitude is powerful—but this time of year, it often becomes something we feel obligated to perform rather than something we authentically feel.

Does this train of thought sound familiar to you?

"You have a roof over your head, food in the fridge, people who care, opportunities others would dream of… you shouldn’t complain."

The problem is that this well-intentioned mindset can subtly teach you to override your own truth.

That's the quieter side to gratitude that no one talks about: it can invalidate your desire for more.

You might feel greedy for wanting:

a different job
deeper relationships
better health
a life that feels more aligned

You tell yourself, “I should be grateful for what I have” and shut down the part of you that’s whispering that something isn’t working. But ignoring your dissatisfaction doesn’t make it disappear—it just buries it deeper, where it quietly drains your energy, confidence, and clarity.

And that inauthentic gratitude has now become a mask that tries to cover up real dissatisfaction and it's keeping you stuck exactly where you DON'T want to be.

Over time, gratitude-as-a-defense can morph into self-blame.Instead of acknowledging a real need or longing, you may start assuming you are the problem.

Maybe you think you’re:
unmotivated
inconsistent
not grateful enough
lacking discipline

But the truth is often much simpler: you’ve been taught to numb your unmet needs instead of naming them. And when you can’t name what’s not working, it becomes nearly impossible to change it.

Honest dissatisfaction doesn't make you wrong or ungrateful—it’s simply information.

It’s your system’s way of telling you that a boundary is being crossed, a pattern is outdated, a season is ending, or a deeper desire is ready to be acknowledged. Naming where you’re unhappy creates the space for growth, possibility, and alignment.

In fact, when you can name our honest desires for what you want or what's not working, you might find that you start to more deeply feel authentic gratitude for the things in you're life that are working and in alignment with your desires.   

Desire and gratitude can coexist beautifully when neither is used to silence the other.

So, if you’re feeling stuck, consider this: it may not be because you lack gratitude. It may be because you’ve been using gratitude to override the truth your body, emotions, and intuition have been trying to tell you.

What if nothing is “wrong” with you?
What if the stuckness is simply the tension between the life you’re tolerating and the life you’re ready for?

As you move through this season and wrap up 2025, give yourself permission to want more—not from a place of lack, but from a place of self-respect worthiness and the joy of expansion.

Let your gratitude support you, not silence you. Let it be the soft foundation you stand on as you admit what’s no longer working and take the next aligned step forward.

Because you can be both profoundly grateful and wildly ready for something better. The time is now.