Uh…hey?

Holy smokes. I haven’t written in two months. Two months to the date, actually. Whoops! But, hello there…if you’re still out there.

The last two months have been an emotional roller coaster, to say the very least. A couple of days after I wrote my last post, I got a promotion at work! You are now reading the blog of a Floor Supervisor at Tommy Bahama. This is, however, a glorified job title for pretty much the same job I already had. Except now I have keys to the store and they let me count money and stuff.

Two weeks after I wrote my last post, my grandfather passed away. While my family and I all knew it was coming, there is absolutely nothing that can soften the blow of a loved one’s death. I miss him every single day and I still can’t believe he’s gone.

During this time, I was still taking online classes in order to finish up my degree by December. I managed to pass said online classes despite having to spend some time in Nebraska with my family for my grandfather’s memorial service. So five weeks after my last post, I finished two of the last six classes I need to graduate.

Unfortunately, six weeks after my last post, my grandmother passed away as well. For most of my family, none of them had seen her since my grandfather’s memorial service. I was lucky enough to have gone home a few days before she passed away and I visited her in the rest home. The most heartbreaking thing was, to me, she seemed like she was just fine. And in a matter of three days, she was gone. We all knew she was miserable without my grandfather. For as devastated as we all were (and still are), we knew that it was better that she wasn’t suffering without him anymore.

That brings us to today. I’ve started my last semester in college, I’m working full time, and I’m trying to find time to sleep and have a social life while keeping on top of my reading and school work. Not to mention I’m still dealing with some very real and present residual sadness from losing my grandparents less than a month apart.

Fortunately, I have a pretty amazing support system in Tim, my family, and my friends. I’m not exactly great at asking others for help when I need it, particularly when I’m overwhelmingly sad. The good news is that they all know that, so they do a pretty good job of checking up on me.

So…there’s all that. I apologize for not having kept up with this blog, but frankly, I just didn’t have the time.

However, I don’t want this blog to fall by the wayside. With graduation coming up in a few short months, I have been thinking about all the things that I will miss (and many, many more things that I won’t miss) after I’m out of college. The thing I will miss most is writing. It’s one of my favorite things to do, and once I don’t absolutely have to do it anymore, I don’t just want to stop doing it. I will try my hardest to keep up with this thing, though. Promise!

Three Good Things

In the five years that I have been studying psychology, I have spent almost zero time studying positive psychology. There are a few reasons for this – namely, I had never been interested in taking the class and unless you take the class, you’re unlikely to hear it talked about elsewhere.

However, last semester, a TA gave a lecture in my Clinical & Counseling class about positive psychology. After that lecture, I found myself disappointed in not taking the time to learn more about positive psychology before the end of my undergraduate career.

The general gist of positive psychology is focusing on people’s strengths instead of their weaknesses. This is particularly true in dealing with depression or anxiety. After learning more about it, I am of the mindset that there are definitely aspects of positive psychology that could benefit anyone, not just those struggling with depression or anxiety.

One of my favorite tools in positive psychology counseling is the “Three Blessings/Three Good Things” exercise. It’s pretty self-explanatory – every day, write down three blessings or three good things you are happy about that day. It’s particularly helpful in dealing with depression as it helps people learn shift their thinking in a more positive manner. However, I think this is an excellent tool that could just promote general happiness and well-being in anyone’s life.

In an attempt to make more positive changes in my life, I’ve decided to start doing this myself. Between work and school, there are plenty of things for me to stress out over or plenty of things to be negative about. I don’t know about anyone else, but sometimes it seems so much easier to be negative than to be positive.

Because it’s so easy for me to get bogged down by negativity, I want to start focusing more on the things I’m grateful for and the things in my life that make me happy; even the littlest of things. Thus, I resolve to spend the next 30 days documenting my Three Good Things to see how this change impacts my general outlook on life.

Today, these are the Three Good Things about my life:

1. I got 10 hours of sleep last night and I woke up feeling more rested than I have in weeks.

2. I bought a new coffee mug yesterday and I used it this morning to drink my coffee. It’s pretty and turquoise and, call me crazy, I think it made my coffee taste better.

3. I actually feel motivated to bust through all of my homework for my online classes today, which leads me to feel like I will be incredibly productive today.

As you can see, none of these things are particularly life changing, but they are the things that are making me happy today. Not to mention the sun is shining and it really is a beautiful day today.

I encourage the few people who follow this blog to try this for a few days and see what kind of effect it has on your mood and outlook on life. If you feel like sharing any of them in the comments, I encourage that as well.

Oh, and it’s Wednesday! Happy hump day!