In the United States, Thursday is Thanksgiving Day. In the early 1600’s, when the first Thanksgiving celebration featuring Englishmen in the New World happened, “giving thanks” was how people expressed their gratitude for surviving a tough year, or for bringing in a bountiful harvest.
The tradition of “giving thanks” was, and still is, a big part of the Wampanoag tribe, who were part of the early celebrations, though not quite as the story is told now. In the middle 1800’s, when the Civil War had ended and President Lincoln was looking for a way to bring the nation back together, Thanksgiving was cemented as a national celebration designed to reflect, gather, and share a communal, traditional meal. The “traditional” meal itself was made up at the time, as was the pastoral story of the early dinners with Pilgrims and tribesmen.
It was called Thanksgiving. Would we still celebrate it if it had been called Gratitude Day or Appreciation Celebration? And do those words even mean the same thing?
Thanks: an expression of gratitude.
Gratitude: the quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness.
Appreciation: recognition and enjoyment of the good qualities of someone or something.
Those three definitions chase each other’s tails, so they seem alike. They don’t quite mean the same thing, though, and it’s in the differences that people can get confused by what others are saying. While some people might hear the phrase “I’m grateful” and understand it to mean that the person is thankful and joyous, others might hear the same two words as “I’m so glad it’s over and I survived.” The word grateful/gratitude has a little bit of angst in it, as if the grateful person has overcome an obstacle or feels they have a debt to repay. The word thanks/thankful has more to do with an action that someone is happy about – they were given a gift that made them happy, and they express the happiness with verbal, physical, and written expressions of how they feel.
The word appreciate/appreciation is a bit different – in feeling appreciation, the person is making the conscious choice to take in the world around them and see it in its most positive light. In their act of appreciating the world around them, they are elevating their own body chemistry, relieving their own stress, and opening their mind up to see possibilities and opportunities.
With just those three similar yet quite different words, you can see that the words you choose to use truly matter, to you as well as to those around you. If you’d like to explore a bit more about how words affect your mood, stress levels, and interpersonal relationships, check out these three podcast episodes. Each Tiny Bites podcast is 90 seconds or less, so you can learn a lot in a very short period of time every single day!
Need a little more grace in your life? Here’s a Tiny Bite for that!
Need help remembering to use your words for good? Here’s a Tiny Bite for that!
Need to understand the difference between advice and control? Here’s a Tiny Bite for that!
As for Thanksgiving, no matter what you’re doing, who you’re doing it with, and how well (or not!) you interact with them, find a way to enjoy the day. Find something to focus on and appreciate. Happy Appreciation Celebration, a holiday you can revel in every day!