I am an emotional sponge. If you are anywhere near me and are feeling wonky, even if you're excellent at covering it up, I'll feel it. I'll ask you one million times how you are feeling and if anything is wrong. It's super annoying, I'm aware. But to me, other people's feelings are amplified and visibly huge to me, like a drive-in movie screen is projecting over your head.
As humans, we all are like this though some people are excellent at deceiving themselves into thinking they are distracting themselves from it. Not true. There are a lot of mixed emotions flying around this time of year and if you don't deal with your stuff, it comes out in super weird and often grouchy ways.
Before you go out and about having contact with others, remember this: every person you speak to or are around has feelings too. Each person has their own crises and mixed emotions going on. Step outside of the chaos and snuggle into a cozy chair in your mind as you cross things off your to-do list. Be mindful of why you're doing it all, even if it seems a little overwhelming. Let mental armchair you guide you through your errands and chores and to-do lists instead of letting chaos, time-crunches, bitterness that your annoying <insert family member here> makes incessant comments of <insert loud and mostly fact-free ramblings on politics, religion or any other unnecessary table-talk here>, last-minute gifts, missing ingredients for the Thanksgiving meal etc. etc. etc. get the best of you.
I do this experiment regularly where I run an errand I don't particularly want to do. I make a point to do it with a (natural) smile on my face. Literally. If I'm having a hard time mustering one, I usually think of something like this. I am always amazed at how nicely people react to it. It begins a snowball of positivity. Helping an elderly person reach the so-and-so from the top shelf, letting someone with fewer items go ahead of you (what's the extra 2 minutes, really? No need to freak out about 2 frickin' minutes, y'all!), telling a harried mother that her kids are well-behaved or look nice in their outfits because she may be losing her damn mind at the moment but she did take the time to find purple mary-janes to match the girls' dresses, letting a manager know when you have a stellar customer service experience yadda yadda. You get my drift. Now try this while you're out doing your thing this week and leading up to your holidays and have it be proven to you. Taking a few extra seconds for others really changes you from the inside out and it's just as contagious as bad, angry, grouchy moods can be- only you look younger and feel better when you're smiling and making others smile too.
Go on with your badass selves, y'all! Spread the positivity everywhere you go. It's free! I guarantee it will come back to you tenfold.
Have a truly wonderful day!
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