A Special Holiday Note
I usually don’t send emails two weeks in a row, but on Christmas Eve, sitting in my best friend’s living room, surrounded by Christmas cheer, I felt moved to connect with you.
Earlier this week, I drove 8.5 hours through four different states—all the way to Cleveland, Ohio.
The journey was filled with beautiful landscapes: rolling hills, cozy farmhouses, snow-covered forests, and flowing rivers.
As I drove, waves of gratitude kept washing over me. Tears ran down my face as I thought, over and over again,
“I love my life! I love my life!” 🥹
(and if you're not quite feeling that way, bear with me.)
Then, I realized something important: one reason I love my life is because I’ve intentionally created it to be a life I want to live.
For those of you who know my background and my story, you know that this hasn’t always been the case.
I haven’t always loved my life.
In fact, I spent the first couple of decades feeling pretty miserable, which is why I feel so passionately about creating a life I love—and being grateful for that life is a huge part of the process.
When we’re grateful, something magical happens ✨
Gratitude is like a powerful affirmation and whenever we affirm something (good or bad), we start to see more of it show up in our lives.
It’s like when a little kid tells a silly joke and you laugh. They’ll keep telling that joke over and over because your laughter affirms them. They’ve learned it’s worth repeating.
The same thing happens with gratitude. When we acknowledge and appreciate something, we affirm that we like it, and—like magic 🪄—we start to see more of it in our lives.
That’s why when you fall in love 😍 everything seems to fall into place (at least for a while, right?). You’re seeing life through the lens of love, affirming it, and as a result, other areas of your life seem to improve.
But when you have your first fight, suddenly that lens changes 😡 Now you’re seeing the world through frustration or bitterness, and life feels harder.
This world of ours is funny that way.
And while I'm not exactly sure how it all works, I do know this: the world is an input/output system. What you put in is what you get out.
Now, this doesn’t mean bad things only happen to bad people or good things only happen to good people. Good and bad things happen to everybody.
What I’m talking about is your attitude—the energy with which you experience life’s ups and downs.
Your attitude about the “bad” can either make it so much worse or turn it into just a blip on your radar, or even a blessing.
That’s where the difference lies.
Because while we can’t control most things in life, we can control one thing: how much gratitude we have for the life that’s happening right now.
If you love the holidays, I encourage you to slow down, savor what you have, soak in the moments, the memories, and let it all fill you up with gratitude.
But if you're not in that place, I get it. I’ve been there.
For a long time, I hated the holidays 😫 I know how it feels when there’s no home to go back to, or hardly any family to connect with, no joy in the season.
I know what it’s like to dread this time of year and just want to crawl into a hole until it’s over.
If that’s where you are, I encourage you to start small. Make a list of things you’re grateful for. They can be tiny—the warmth of your coffee, the sound of rain on the roof—or big. And if they’re big, break them down into smaller pieces.
Focus on the specific aspects that you enjoy and why.
Because, like I said, we can’t control most of what happens around us. But we can take more control of how we experience life by affirming the aspects we love and focusing on those.
The more you focus on what you want, instead of what you don’t want, the more life shapes itself into something you truly love living 💗
So no matter where you are, what you celebrate, or how you’re showing up today, please know that I am grateful for you. I am grateful you’re here and that you’re reading this right now.
You have touched my life, in some way, and for that, I thank you 🙏