Trigger Warning: This story mentions depression and emotional struggles. Please read with care.
Treyana started her mindfulness practice back in 2022 during some very hard moments in her life. She was dealing with depression, personal struggles at home, and finding it difficult to cope at school. She used to struggle with low self-esteem and often found herself caught in negative thought patterns. She would obsess over the what, the why, and the how, leaving her feeling like everything around her was falling apart. When she was living between homes and struggling to feel emotionally stable, she realized she needed to take ownership of her mind. To do that, she had to put herself in the right state of mind, which meant finding something to keep her grounded every day. She turned to a daily gratitude practice, which became an important tool in helping her stay focused and mentally steady.
“Gratitude means grounding yourself every single day. It is stepping out from the old and stepping into the new and blossoming beautifully.”
~ Treyana
She discovered a way to build a daily routine and started working on understanding her thoughts better. Treyana learned to recognize a negative thought, understand where it came from, and break it down. For example, if a teacher told her she did a good job on a project, her old self would question it and still feel like she was not good enough. Through her practice, she learned to look within to figure out why she did not feel good enough and simply accept the positive feedback. Instead of brushing off compliments, she started connecting to her thoughts in a healthier way.
To help build a healthier mindset, she started journaling her thoughts and created a vision board on the Gratitude app, visualizing her goals every single day. Over time, she began making steady progress on the things she had visualized, including starting her own brand and reaching personal milestones. She also developed what she calls a “mirror me” mentality, realizing that many of her actions reflected how she thought and felt. She noticed that ego can keep us stuck in a cycle of negativity because we hold on to old versions of ourselves. Treyana went from feeling scattered to becoming more disciplined through her daily affirmations and connecting to her higher self. As she kept at it, she started feeling more like herself and became more consistent in the way she showed up every day.
“Always try to empower yourself because the beauty of empowering yourself is going to take you very far in life.”
~ Treyana
Her mental strength improved so much that others began to notice the change. During a particularly difficult time, her mom looked at her and said she looked better, encouraging her to keep doing whatever she was doing. She also faced an identity crisis and struggled with what she describes as having “alarming confidence,” being overly confident about things she shouldn’t have been, feeling forced, being overly pushy, and compromising who she was as a person. Practicing gratitude helped her realize that it is good to be confident, but it is equally important to set healthy boundaries with herself and everything else around her.
Treyana believes that everything around us influences our emotional state, from the food we eat to the clothes we wear and the things we see or listen to. She knows she has to stay on top of her thoughts, or else she feels it would be easy to slip back into old patterns and stop growing. To prevent this, she keeps a consistent morning routine. After practicing a breathing exercise, she journals her thoughts, simply asking herself how she is feeling today. Even if she forgets, she goes back and writes because it helps her reconnect with herself. She also reads daily quotes that remind her to give herself grace. Even if nobody around her knows what she is going through on the inside, she gives herself the acknowledgment that she showed up.
“You cannot trade the better version of yourself with anything else because your higher self is always going to thank you later.”
~ Treyana
Today, Treyana lets gratitude guide the way she approaches life. No matter what challenges she faces, she returns to the daily practices that help her take care of her mind and body. For Treyana, the biggest shift came from learning to understand herself and choosing to show up for her own growth every day. Her introspection has completely changed the way she sees herself. Her story reminds us that change begins when we take ownership of our minds and choose to keep showing up for ourselves.
This is Treyana’s story, told beautifully by her and curated in its truest form. I would love to hear your story. Write to me at preeti@gratefulness.me 💌
Every story is a reminder to notice the good that already exists.
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