It’s hard to stay positive all the time. We all have things that can trigger us, impact our mood, and set us off. Most of the time I’m in a pretty good place, but sometimes, I get thrown off my game.

We all do. We lose our head.

Nothing triggers me more than when I hear about a mom losing her battle with breast cancer. It unravels me faster than anything ever has before. It hits home right where it hurts. Because it’s scary. And personal. And that could have been me.

It’s strange, and I never thought about it before, but there can actually be “luck” in cancer. As in everything, there are many different types, stages, and treatment options for breast cancer. And whenever I hear about someone loosing her battle, I have to remind myself that I don’t know anything about her individual situation. That it isn’t my situation.

But it really upsets me. Deeply. Like the crying type of being upset. Because I realize how lucky I am, and how sad I am for her family and children. No ones deserves to lose a parent at a young age. Especially to cancer. It feels completely unnecessary. It doesn’t make sense.

It is unfair.

It took me hearing a couple of different stories before I realized this was such a strong trigger for me. Now that I recognize it, I’ve learned to let myself be sad. But just for a little while. Then, I force myself to get centered again. Because it doesn’t help me to let my mind take over, and take me to the dark side.

It doesn’t help me at all.

Our minds can have a profound impact on how we feel, our mood, and our outlook. Mark Twain wrote, “I’ve lived through some terrible things in my life, some of which actually happened.” I love this quote, because it makes so much sense to me. How many times have we played out a situation in our heads? Worried about something or had “what if” thinking? We can spend our time thinking about things that “might” or “might not” happen, or, we can live our lives.

In the present moment.

Today.

We don’t know what the future holds. All we can do is commit to enjoying the right here, right now, and make the most of every day we have.

Whatever it is that throws you off your game: recognize it, let yourself feel it, take control of your thoughts, and then put it behind you.

Find meaning each day,

Dara