To anyone who has interacted with me over the last couple weeks: thank you.

Thank you for your patience. Thank you for your kindness. Thank you for your sincerity. Thank you for your honesty. Thank you for your love. Thank you for your existence.

The holidays have become the hardest and emotional time of the year for me, and I seem to hit a trigger every step I take. Maybe the trigger is being around family. Maybe the trigger is stressing about finances. Maybe the trigger is shorter days with the sun. But no matter what, I am feeling constantly triggered when November rolls around and I am still attempting to discover how to manage the overwhelming feelings accompanying this time of year.

The past week as I was venting about how busy work was to one of my friends, I started to feel extremely guilty. I probably had talked to five or six people about how tired I was because retail is most likely one of craziest places to work from Black Friday, on to the New Year. I had been complaining about the longer hours and lack of rest I was getting, and then it hit me. I realized I am focused on the obligation of working, instead of the opportunity to run a business and drive profit the remainder of the year. I am lucky for the position and job I have, because not everyone is as fortunate.

While work was the factor that helped me recognize I needed to change my attitude, I also noticed that my negativity was shifting throughout every realm of my life. From work to family, to friends, to health, to finances, and so on. My negativity was spreading and sucking any life that I could potentially have right now. I could feel it from the top of my head to the tips of my toes, and that pessimistic perspective was not beneficial to myself or anyone I have crossed paths with.

I am not sure how to protect myself from every trigger I will encounter, but I will always be able to control how I respond to those situations. Have I been the resourceful and intelligent problem solver that I normally aim to be? Definitely not. Fear has overcome my ability to lead with the confidence that I am helping others along my directed path. That same fear has overshadowed the love I want to share with others.

So how can I change this cycle? What can I do differently so the remainder of the year is not filled with moments of stress and anxiety? How can we make a difference and spread positivity?

We need to breathe. We need to relax. We need to remember the larger picture that we are a part of. We need to let go. We need to love.

At least, I need to get back to those tasks. I have personally become so obsessed with perfecting each holiday season that I love sight of what really matters. During this time of year, we need to be thankful for what we have. I currently can hear my dog snoring beside my feet, and I have never heard a more perfect sound. I am so grateful for him every day, along with a million other things. I have forgotten that this chilly season should not be overwhelming, but humbling because I have a life to live and an opportunity to make the time here worth it.

With that being said, I hope you are learning from me what not to do with this upcoming December. I hope you are valuing those positive aspects of your life instead of the negative ones. If you have started to dwell and hit that speed bump like me, you have so much time to switch gears. You have time to enjoy the parts of life that are still worth living and I hope you do not forget that.

I am thankful that life has given me triggers because that means I also have been given the strength to overcome them. The holidays may be crazy, but they do not have to be negative. Here is to the next few jam-packed weeks that we still get to have, let’s make them the best for the remainder of 2017.