I don’t know about you, but I am in the busiest part of my year right now. As an event planner, I’m seeing everyone trying to get their last events of the year in before everyone is off for the holidays. While November and December will see sporadic events on weeks that do not include holidays, October is packed tightly to the brim with summits, hackathons, awards ceremonies and speaker series. While this is an incredibly exciting time with opportunities to work with big brands and important political figures, it is also incredibly exhausting.

It’s times like these where it is so important to remember the little blessings in life. Today I am enjoying the only day off I will have this week. I have two choices here: I can either waste the day being upset that I only get a one-day weekend, or I can notice the little blessings in time off.

This morning I woke up to a chilly fall morning. I took my dog on a walk and then went to a neighborhood farmer’s market. What a blessing to live in a part of the world where I can walk to a market and buy good produce for reasonable prices. After the market, I stopped in a local coffee shop to get a latte. The barista took the extra time and effort to draw a beautiful heart with steamed milk on my latte. While this isn’t  an incredibly unusual thing for her to do, it was a nice gesture and it made me smile.

Next, off to the gym. It’s a little harder to find the blessings in that. Even though it’s not exactly what I want to be doing with my limited time off, I feel blessed that I have the time and access to be able to go to the gym. Beyond that, I feel blessed that I have a body that is capable of strenuous workouts.

Earlier this week I had an incredibly hard day at work… the kind of day that makes you question why you have chosen the path in life that you are currently taking. In those instances, it is so hard to see the little blessings. One thing I need to get better at is finding the blessings amongst the bad days. The good things in our lives don’t disappear just because something bad happened. We still live blessed lives and have happy things to look forward to.

As we finish out the year, let’s keep each other accountable. Everyone is busy and stressed, and it’s easy to get bogged down with the negative parts of our lives. Let’s remember the good and focus on what makes us happy. Remember the little blessings you have in your life and use them to propel you forward into a great new year.

-        Bria