Hello everyone!  Thank you for taking time from your day to stop by today!  I know I don’t have to remind anyone that the holiday season is stressful for many of us.  We are surrounded by TV and social media constantly shoving images down our throats about how happy everyone should be that the holiday season is upon us.

But for many people, today is a constant reminder of what we’re missing.  It can be almost impossible to remember what we are thankful for when your brain is in a constant struggle forcing your thoughts to go down that dark spiral about everything wrong in your life.  And that really is where your brain prefers to spend its time, isn’t it?  Reminding you of a failed job, failed relationship, or that you’re alone today due to family or friends being far away, maybe a deployment, or even because of a recent death of a loved one.

Your brain wants to tell you about everything going wrong.  Do not try to ignore it, it just gets louder.  Don’t argue with it, that’s what it wants. Don’t tell it what you don’t want to think about.  If I tell you not to think about an elephant sitting on a chair in your living room, that’s exactly what you’re going to think, right?

These tips aren’t meant to be the end-all-be-all list that will lift you up and out of where you are, but will hopefully give you a handful of ideas to help re-center your thoughts and just get you through today!  

They key is to redirect your brain.  Give it something else to think about.  Similar to a child having a temper tantrum in the middle of a store, give your brain a task to accomplish, redirecting it away from its id-driven behavior.

• The only thing today is, is Thursday.  It’s just another day.  Your brain is telling you “today is Thanksgiving so you must be happy, what’s wrong with you because you aren’t!”  Remind yourself, it’s just Thursday.
• Leave the TV off.  With its constant barrage of all of that holiday cheer, it may be best to leave that TV off.
• Grab that book.  So if you turned the TV off, what are you supposed to do?  You don’t want to just sit there with your brain on hyperdrive!  Is there a book you’ve been wanting to start reading?  Go do it!  Make some coffee, have some tea, and sit back with that book and temporarily immerse yourself into another world.
• Is there a recipe you’ve been wanting to try?  Most stores are still open.  Go grab those ingredients and get to cooking.
• Prepare a donation to a homeless shelter, ARC or Goodwill.  Clean out that closet or pantry.  Put on your favorite 80’s radio station and get packing.  Or donate your time!  Sign up to cook or serve others.
• Go to the movies.  Go check out the latest comedy you’ve wanted to see.

Your thoughts will often turn back to your struggles.  When it does, acknowledge the thoughts, step back, close your eyes, and recenter your thoughts.  And then re-direct again.  As many times as it takes.