When Thanksgiving Feels Heavy: Finding Light in Dark Seasons

I know what it’s like to sit at a Thanksgiving table when your heart feels anything but grateful. I’ve been there, smiling while my world was crumbling, pretending to be fine when I was barely holding on, going through the motions of gratitude when all I felt was grief.

Some years, Thanksgiving doesn’t arrive wrapped in Norman Rockwell scenes and Instagram-perfect gatherings. Sometimes it comes during the hardest season of your life, when you’re rebuilding from nothing, when the people who should be at your table are conspicuously absent, when you’re doing everything you can just to keep moving forward.

If that’s where you are this year, I see you. And I want you to know something I learned during my darkest Thanksgivings….gratitude isn’t about denying your pain, it’s about finding light that bleeds through the cracks of it.

The Treasures Hidden in Dark Places

In my journey, I discovered something profound, the intensity of opposition in your life often indicates the value of treasures hidden within you. The very fact that life keeps trying to dim your light proves how brightly you’re meant to shine.

This Thanksgiving, you might not feel like you have much. But you have you. You have resilience that has carried you this far. You have strength you didn’t know you possessed until you needed it. You have wisdom earned through battles fought and mountains climbed. These are treasures that no circumstance can steal.

Time: The Gift We All Receive Equally

Here’s something that brings me comfort in difficult seasons, time is the ultimate equalizer. Whether you’re celebrating in abundance or scraping by, whether you’re surrounded by family or eating alone, we all received the same gift today, 24 hours.

Today, you get 1,440 minutes to choose what kind of Thanksgiving you’ll create. You can’t control your circumstances, but you can control how you spend these sacred hours. Maybe gratitude looks like:

• Taking a walk and noticing one beautiful thing

• Calling someone who understands your struggle

• Resting without guilt because your body needs it

• Letting yourself feel whatever you’re feeling without judgment

• Celebrating one small victory from this hard year

Restoration is Happening, Even When You Can’t See It

I’ve learned that restoration doesn’t happen overnight, it grows slowly, like an oak tree developing deep roots you can’t see. There were Thanksgivings when I couldn’t see any progress, when I felt stuck in the same pain, the same circumstances, the same limitations.

But something was happening in the invisible places. Character was forming. Resilience was building. The real me, the joyful, creative, hopeful person I thought I’d lost forever, was being restored, one imperceptible choice at a time.

Maybe you can’t see your restoration yet. But it’s happening. Every day you choose to keep going, every moment you refuse to let bitterness win, every small act of hope, these are building something beautiful that will emerge when the time is right.

The Sacred Space of Your Mind

On difficult days, I remember this truth, the most precious space I own is my mind, where God shares His secrets with me about what my life could become. No matter what’s happening around you, you still have this sacred creative space where hope can be born.

This Thanksgiving, you can choose to:

• Imagine a future that looks different than today

• Believe that this season is preparation, not punishment

• Trust that the same force that brings flowers from frozen ground is working in your life too

• Hold space for both your pain and your hope to coexist

You’re Not Alone in This

If you’re struggling through Thanksgiving, please know you’re not alone. Millions of people are putting on brave faces while carrying heavy hearts. Your struggle doesn’t make you less than. Your pain doesn’t disqualify you from belonging. Your tears don’t mean you lack faith.

Sometimes the most courageous thing we can do is simply show up to the day as we are, broken, tired, uncertain, and trust that showing up is enough.

What I’m Grateful For This Year

Even in my hardest seasons, I found things to be grateful for that didn’t require my circumstances to change:

• The strength to take one more step when I wanted to give up

• The wisdom gained from valleys I never wanted to walk through

• The authentic relationships that survived when fair-weather friends left

• The voice inside me that kept whispering “keep going” even when everything else screamed “quit”

• The sacred truth that my worth isn’t determined by my circumstances

A Blessing For Your Table (Whether You’re Alone or Together)

As you navigate this Thanksgiving, here’s my prayer for you:

May you find moments of peace in the chaos. May you recognize the treasures you carry even when others can’t see them. May you trust that restoration is happening in the invisible places. May you give yourself permission to feel whatever you’re feeling. May you know that this hard season is not the end of your story. May light bleed through the cracks of your breaking in ways that surprise you.

You’re Going to Make It

I don’t know what crushing you’re walking through right now. I don’t know what losses you’re grieving or what battles you’re fighting. But I know this: you’ve made it through every hard day so far. You’re stronger than you feel, braver than you know, and more loved than you can imagine.

This Thanksgiving may not look like you hoped. But you’re still here. Still breathing. Still hoping, even if it’s just a tiny ember of hope. And sometimes, that’s exactly the kind of gratitude God honors most, the kind that shows up anyway, that chooses to believe anyway, that keeps taking one more step anyway.

You’re not just surviving, you’re in the process of becoming. And I’m believing with you that the best chapters are still to come.

With love and solidarity from someone who’s been there,

Melissa Saulnier

If you’re struggling and need support, please reach out. Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741 | National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988