Once again...

I am living on antibiotics and painkillers (thanks to a pain in my butt I don't feel like discussing) I've been pretty much laid up for the past 4 days which gave me way too much time to think (more like over think and over analyze). On the news this morning they announced that today was considered the most depressing day of the year. There was a long list of reasons. I think for most people depression is a choice. A lot of people choose to let things bother them, when in all honesty they could just let it go. I think the first time I recognized making a conscious decision was a couple of years ago when I was working the reception desk in my office. It was 8 o'clock in the morning the first customer came in and he was just miserable. He was rude and mean and uncooperative and he really tried to suck out all the energy and the positiveness I'd had to start the day. And as he walked away I remember at that moment thinking I wasn't going to let him ruin my day or affect the day of the other people I would come into contact with. I greeted the next client in line with a smile and "Good Morning" and proceeded on with my day. More recently I was truly tested on my ability to choose to not get depressed by the circumstances I'm in and to just keep moving on. About a week ago I was having a really bad day, everything that could go wrong had. I was already suffering from the pain in my butt, I got stuck at the bus station with no money and it would not accept my bank card (which it normally does), my cell phone was dying, connecting the bank used up all my daytime minutes I had left and it was way too cold outside. When I finally made it to the bank to sort out the bank card issue, I was feeling somewhat down. The teller heard me on the phone explaining to my mom exactly what had gone wrong that day and it was pretty apparent I wasn't thrilled with the service I had received from the bank so far. As I stepped up to talk to him I decided that there was no point on taking things out on him, he had nothing to do with had gone wrong and it wouldn't help me to get agitated with someone who was just trying to help. I think what truly surprised him is that after everything I had been through that afternoon is once I checked my card at the ATM and made sure everything was alright I went back and thanked him for his help. I think what I'm learning is to control my reactions regarding the situations I'm in. There's no point working myself up and getting upset when I at times have little to no control over what goes on around me other then how I choose to react.