Holiday Spirit

November and December are the hardest months of the year for some people, me included. The daylight starts to dwindle, the weather turns colder, and people start to rush into the holidays. I've always had a hard time with the shift from summer to winter. Fall is really just a cusp season for me. I consider those first few weeks/months of fall as a nice extension of summer. Then we jump feet first into cold, dreary, winter.

It takes effort to stay positive at first. I have to remind myself to take care of myself every November, once I feel like the Grinch, ready to bite anyone's head off for merely looking at me the wrong way. For me, this means making sure I get enough sleep, exercise, and looking for the good things again. In summer, everything feels so nice and warm that if my mood turns south, I just need to go out in the warm sun. 

This also means that I am selective with whom I spend my time. I love my friends and family, but some of them are hard to deal with when I'm struggling with the winter blues. I'm sure you all have a few of these people in your lives - "negatrons", as my friend calls them. Negatrons seem to be everywhere right now - on facebook, twitter, on the streets, and I know I struggle with becoming one myself some days. They are the subject of many a holiday movie - The Grinch, Scrooge, etc. (Though I must say the ones I know in person are definitely not anywhere near as bad these classic characters.) 

December is my photo challenge for myself. I have to take and post a photo a day of something that makes me smile. That's pretty easy. However, it does get my mind into a positive vibe - looking for those happy moments. I could just post a picture of my cat everyday, as she makes me smile daily, but I'm trying hard to find different things to post. It's really helped to be constantly looking for those things/moments that make me smile. They are everywhere when you take the time to look. 

Something else I've been noticing lately is that while the world will always have negatrons, there are also many "positrons". (Ok, that's a real thing, not related to what I'm using the word for...) I've started to notice them now, as well. For instance, there is the man who hands out the newspaper on the street in front of my office building. Every morning, he's there with a "Good Morning" and a smile. I don't read that paper, but I make a point of saying good morning to him every day, and often times, he is the first person I speak to each work morning (other than my cat, of course). 

This week, my goal for myself is to take notice of more positrons, and maybe work towards being one myself. Is there a positron in your life? Maybe you are the positron in someone else's life!