Shift Your Gaze: Choosing Gratitude When Life Doesn’t Go As Planned

I had a plan, you know.

For my 50th birthday, I was meant to be sipping something fruity on a cruise, watching the ocean shimmer while pretending I didn’t have responsibilities waiting back home. It was going to be my moment — a celebration of half a century of life, love, and lessons.

But it didn’t happen.

Life had other plans (as it often does). The cruise didn’t go ahead, and for a minute, I felt that sting — disappointment, frustration, even a bit of “why me?”. I could have easily stayed there, sulking through my birthday, comparing my reality to someone else’s highlight reel, and letting the mood ruin the moment.

But then I paused.

I realised that focusing on what didn’t happen was robbing me of everything that was happening. I was alive. Healthy. Surrounded by love. My body worked. My mind was calm. I was here — present, breathing, laughing, still growing.

That’s when it hit me — ingratitude is sneaky. It zooms in on the one thing that didn’t go to plan and quietly blurs out the hundred things that did. The prayers were answered in silence. The battles we survived. The strength we didn’t even realise we had.

So, I made a choice: to shift my gaze.

Instead of focusing on the cruise that didn’t happen, I chose to be thankful for the life that did. The one where I wake up with breath in my lungs, purpose in my heart, and people I love within reach. The one where I still get to dream, create, nurture, rest, and laugh.

Gratitude doesn’t erase disappointment — but it reframes it.

This is me colouring " Thankful Reflections: Scriptures of Gratitude."

It whispers, “Yes, that hurt… but look how far you’ve come.”

So if you’re reading this with your own “cruise that didn’t happen” — a goal unmet, a plan postponed, a dream delayed — this is your gentle nudge:

Pause, shift your gaze, and choose gratitude.

Because gratitude turns ordinary moments into quiet miracles.

And as we approach the end of the year, let’s focus less on what didn’t happen and more on the blessings that quietly carried us through — the steady ones, the unnoticed ones, the ones that kept us standing.

Want to make gratitude a gentle daily habit?

To support you on that journey, I’ve created a special Early Christmas Gratitude Bundle featuring:

"Gratitude Journal for Adults" and "Thankful Reflections: Scriptures of Gratitude Colouring Book"

Together, they offer a calm space to pause, reflect, pray, breathe, and realign — especially during a season that can so easily become overwhelming.

Usually, £15.98, this bundle is available for just:🎁 £11.99 until 30th November only

A meaningful way to honour your journey, close this chapter with intention, and step into December grounded and grateful.

Because choosing gratitude isn’t about pretending life is perfect…It’s about recognising the beauty that exists even when things don’t go to plan.