Avoid anxiety with gratitude

The Christmas holidays are coming to an end. The flash of New Years fireworks are already beginning to dim in your memory. You might be returning to work or you've already returned. Maybe you're feeling disgruntled and little sad that it all went by so fast and what do you even have to show for yourself?

Today while I was kicking off my morning writing routine, it was turning into a stream of conscious thought. Eventually I just happened to start creating list of all amazing things I'd done over the holidays. It came to a list of 21 events that I really and truly appreciated and there was certainly room for more if I'd thought about it. Looking back and forcing myself to remember them gave me an overwhelmingly contented feeling. The anxiety of returning to the post holiday work world and the fear of the Monday morning blues just faded into excitement about the future.

On top of that it's also kicking off a new habit. Once a week while I'm doing my morning writing I'm going to write up a list of everything I'm grateful for over the last week.

I could not recommend doing this exercise more. Right now, just write out the list of things you're thankful for over the holidays. It'll only take a few minutes, I guarantee if you're in the right frame of mind you won't regret it.