At The Steve Fund, we welcome every November as a time for practicing and expressing gratitude. With the Thanksgiving holiday and the closing of the calendar year, it is a good time to take account of all that we have to be grateful for—be it health, family and friends, or simply the sunrise. 

This month, we want to bring messages of hope and support to young people of color who may be dealing with social anxiety. Here are a few tips to help you practice more gratitude:

• Count your blessings—every day! This is the easiest and most effective way to bring more gratitude to your life. Make an extra effort to notice or count a new blessing on a daily basis. This practice will make showing and feeling gratitude fresh, and help to reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety.

• Create a gratitude jar. A small box in your backpack or a glass jar on your desk is a great way to capture the little things that make you smile throughout the day. On a scrap of paper, write down the things you feel grateful for, the things that lift your spirits, or the things that make you laugh. As a bonus, when you are feeling down, read what made earlier days brighter.

• Send a message of thanks. Reach out with a short text to a friend or family member thanking them for doing something that you appreciated–whether it was a thoughtful action or just being a text away. Studies show that this simple practice can help you feel better sooner when you are dealing with mental health issues.