YOU CAN STILL SURPRISE YOURSELF

I didn't know myself as well as I thought I did. That turned out to be A GOOD THING.

- BY GINA WAY

I AM THE LEAST "WOO@WOO" PERSON I KNOW.

Any time someone brings up energy healing, crystals, chanting, or sound baths, I want to roll my eyes and crack a sarcastic joke (and sometimes I do!).

I’ve been a beauty writer for more than 20 years, but I’m not into kooky spa treatments like yogurt body wraps or facials involving salmon sperm, and the piped-in wellness soundtrack of raindrops and wind chimes puts me on edge. I even tried to do a guided meditation class once and had to stop myself from giggling, it felt so… ridiculous! (Afterward, the teacher sweetly mentioned to me that my “third eye” might be clogged.) I’m a skeptical, cynical New Yorker, and I was always OK with that.

I’m mostly still that way—with one exception: There is a gratitude journal sitting on my bedside table, and I write in it. All the time. In fact, I’ve filled up two of them in the past couple of years. Even though a gratitude journal is a close cousin to a New Agey “vision board,” I am a devotee.

I first heard about the practice of writing about the things for which you are grateful at a work event with other beauty editors. We were broken into small groups and asked to discuss our deep thoughts on self-care and “beauty from the inside out” (my eyes are rolling as I write this). One 20-something TikTok influencer began extolling the practice. Just as I was scoping out the exit, something she said struck a chord with me: She mentioned how daily writing had strengthened her low self-esteem. She did indeed seem confident!

Suddenly I was curious. I had always been insecure, and lack of belief in myself had been a major obstacle in my life and my career. I was forever grappling with things like self-criticism, second-guessing myself, and not trusting that I was talented enough to even pretend to be a professional writer. If a gratitude journal had worked for this woman, maybe it would help me.