Though I rarely discuss my personal life on my blog, some of you know that it has been a pretty tough year for my husband and me.  We’ve had more than our share of scary incidents, illnesses, deaths, and overall misfortune.  Suffice it to say that we’re looking forward to a fresh beginning with the start of a new year. 

One thing I have learned from this year, however, is that getting through difficult situations with your sanity intact requires looking for the small blessings.  Part of this process is realizing that regardless of what has happened to you, it could always be worse.

For example, suppose you were laid off just before the holidays.  Now getting laid off is always an unpleasant, dejecting experience, and having it happen when everyone around you is celebrating can feel like an extra thorn in your side.  But you’ll recover faster if, rather than feeling universally sorry for yourself, you spend a few minutes of every day considering how you were fortunate instead of unfortunate. 

Maybe some of the other people laid off at your company received only two weeks severance, whereas you got six months.  That’s enough time and money to prevent you from panicking and allow you to make an educated, well-executed, next move.  Maybe in the back of your mind, you really weren’t happy at work anyway, but couldn’t summon the motivation to launch a job search on your own.  Maybe the unexpected time off will allow you to take that winter vacation with your family that you’ve been struggling to fit in for years.

Bad things happen to everyone, but good things do too, and it’s important to remember those when it seems like the world’s got you down.