Thanksgiving — the ultimate day to give thanks.

After Halloween, you realize the holiday season is unofficially here, and your heart begins to sink. Whether it be due to a death of a parent or beloved family member, a divorced parent or a break up with a significant other, or just sheer abandonment/ "falling out" from family, the holiday season is a tough one to endure, and it causes the ultimate "seasonal depression".

Within a broken family, it is easy to fall into this depression and act out emotionally because all you want is to be with your beloved ones or your family. As someone who falls into the category of a "broken family", I will be the first to admit how horrible and lonely I feel during the holiday season. However, I never let this falter me and it allows me to grow out of my comfort zone, and allow me to really reflect on what I am truly thankful for in life.

Although I come from a broken family, I am the most festive person you will ever meet because I remain positive during tough trials and I spend my holiday's with people I consider family.

For the past two years, I have incorporated my old traditions into new traditions. For instance, for Thanksgiving I watch the Macy's Day Parade, make hot chocolate and biscuits, but rather than watching it with my family, I watch it with my boyfriend. I get to be around actual positive people, and my boyfriends family opens their arms to me each holiday, and embraces my corny traditions and extravagantly extra holiday sweaters. Without their support and their warm welcomes, I probably wouldn't be writing how positive the holiday season can actually be. We share laughs, eat a little too much food, and my heart warms and grows five sizes bigger with all of the love that goes travels through the dining room table. I listen to all of my boyfriends family's stories, and the smile that comes across his face is one of the many things I am thankful for.

To you, broken family survivor, throw your self-pity out the door and embrace the moments and matters in life that you are thankful for.

It's okay to miss and reflect this season, but don't let that ruin your holiday cheer! Be thankful for the friends and significant others that you have that you consider family, and be grateful for the experiences you have witnessed. Be thankful for the education or career you have... even if you don't like getting up for that 8 a.m class. Be thankful you are able to receive an education and work a job that helps you pay bills and support yourself. Be thankful for the people who have inspired you to achieve great things, and give thanks to the people who are unsupportive, for they motivate you to work harder. Love lost and love gained is something to be thankful for this year, as it teaches you how to not only deal with grief, but to give you experiences that you can carry with you through life.

Finally, be grateful for your memories of past times with your own broken family — those are priceless.

It may not be the same anymore, but at one point in your life, it meant everything to you. No one can take those memories away, but remember to make more memory space for new memories with new friends and family! Just remember not to dwell too much on the past, because your future is so bright and you deserve to experience the world outside of your comfort zone.

So this holiday season, catch me studying for finals at the university I am honored to attend and working towards my goals. I'll be working at the job I love, and I'll be writing in Odyssey to comfort me in my spare time. I'll be making new memories with my loving boyfriend, his family who I have been the most thankful for lately, and my friends. I am so thankful for my life, and I am beyond blessed to live the life I have.

Remember: be thankful for the memories you will be making this holiday season, and the ones to come in the New Year!

And who knows — you might find new traditions and mold a new family in the making!