Without a doubt one of the most dreaded things about January is coming back to work after the long holiday break to face all the emails, voice messages, and letters that have piled up during your absence.  Seeing all that work that’s accumulated and realizing how long it is going to take you just to catch back up again can be downright discouraging, to say the least.  And when you mix the backlog of work to do, with the realization that there isn’t another holiday break coming again for quite some time, then add in the fact that it is miserably cold outside, and top it off with clothes you now barely fit into anymore due to all the goodies you consumed during the break…well, let’s just say it’s easy to find yourself starting to get the blues this time of year…

Whenever I find myself starting to get the blues, which I definitely felt a touch of today for all the reasons listed above, I find the thing that helps me combat them the most is to talk myself through all the things that have me feeling down, acknowledge that all those things are definitely a bummer, and then remind myself of all the things in life I have to be grateful for and add those up in my mind – eyes that can see, ears that can hear, a body that can move about, an amazing family that I love, a beautiful home that gives me a warm place to sleep, talents and abilities I can use, a gorgeous State I get to live in, and the list goes on and on and on – and by the time I get done adding that list up in my mind it becomes glaringly obvious that the last thing I should be feeling is the blues when there is so much in life I should BE HAPPY about!

“There is something in each day that can bring gratitude and joy if only we will see it and appreciate it. Perhaps we should be looking less with our eyes and more with our hearts.” – Dieter F. Uchtdorf

If any of you are feeling the blues today (like I was) try having that same conversation with yourself. It’s amazing what a little self-talk can do to lift your spirits and put a smile back on your face 🙂

~Amy Rees Anderson (author of the book “What Awesome Looks Like: How To Excel in Business & Life” )