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Community Corner

Three Emotional Traps to Avoid This Holiday Season

Wilmington, DE- With the start of the holiday season just around the corner, people are going to be at their busiest shopping, entertaining, traveling and at the same time managing their usual day to day work and family responsibilities.  Many people consider the holidays to be the most stressful time of the year. Whether its family stresses, financial stress or just figuring out how to manage it all, people have great difficulty around the holidays. It is important to identify these overwhelming challenges and face them head on.

Joe White, founder and president of Get Life Coaching, has over 14 years of experience helping people battle and overcome stress brought on by life events.  He offers some insight into this problem, “Stress occurs when a person tries to control things that are simply out of our control. This creates an imbalance that people often interpret as pain. To navigate life’s challenges we must learn to identify triggers and emotional barriers that hook us and prevent us from being on the road to true happiness.”

With this in mind, White identifies three emotional traps to identify and avoid this holiday season:

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1. “You are not your problem”- Throughout our lives we are taught that we are our problems. Typical excuses  come in the form of “I’m too lazy/depressed/addicted to make my life better.” Drop the excuses and realize  that you are a human being with feelings. Negative feelings are completely normal and do not define the  type of person you are or will be. People are not their behaviors.

2. "Your problems are not permanent” – We all feel at times like our lives are stuck, but so long as we are  still breathing, there is still a chance to change for the better. Challenges will always arise, sometimes  at the worst possible moment, but just as the water retreats after high tide, our problems will retreat  from our lives over time. Make it a point to face your problems and push through them.

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3. “There is always another option” – Death is the only permanent problem. That being said, as long as you are  still breathing, there will always be a chance for redemption. Think outside of yourself and hold onto the  belief that there is still hope for your life. Even the smallest step in the right direction will lay the  foundation for change to occur.

It is important to keep in mind that change does not happen over time, but rather, change occurs in a split second. Even the smallest victories lead to real, substantive change for the better. When things start to become overwhelming this holiday season, follow White’s mantra and remember to Live Free.

About Joe White:
He’s an author, speaker, international trainer, and life coach dedicated to helping individuals, business leaders and couples.  Joe White, who was born and raised in Sharon Hill, Delaware County, has more than 14 years of experience helping people turn their lives around.

Following years of “real life” experience, Joe founded Get Life Coaching in 1999.  His perseverance to survive a near-death overdose , beat drug addiction, and a lifetime of personal struggles have given him the skills and energy to help thousands of people change their lives for the better.

The story of how Joe White came into life coaching more resembles a VH1 Behind the Music episode than a traditional story.  After dropping out of college, Joe left the Philadelphia area to pursue his dreams of becoming a model.   He took a job as a VIP concierge in a New York City nightclub in the early 90’s to supplement his modeling income, but encountered a serious alcohol and cocaine addiction.  Joe’s battle with addiction eventually cost him his success and nearly killed him.  In an act of desperation to change his life, he purchased a set of Tony Robbins self-help cassette tapes and studied them relentlessly.  Within a few short years, Joe had not only turned his life around, but was being courted by The Tony Robbins Organization to join his coaching team.  Being the perennial entrepreneur, Joe decided to go out on his own and, thus, Get Life Coaching was born.

Joe White is the recipient of the New Castle County Chamber of Commerce 2012 Entrepreneur of the Year Award and the 2008 Entrepreneurial Advocate of the Year.   As the founder and principle of Get Life Coaching, White had personally coached hundreds of individuals and led seminars for thousands including employees of Fortune 500 companies and top local businesses.   He also conducts life coaching certification courses and has trained therapists and counselors in his coaching techniques.

Joe White has conducted a regular radio show on WDEL 1150 am in Delaware and has been a guest on the Jordan Rich Show on WBZ 1030 am in Boston.  He has been featured on CN8, WDEL and is a regular featured writer for Living Well Magazine and The Women’s Journal.   He is a sought after keynote speaker who brings depth, insights, and energy into his presentations.  Joe’s work and methodology have been a part of two published Phd. Academic Studies, which were award-winning. His first book, Put Me In Coach, I’m Ready To Live is available via online retailers, and Joe is currently writing is second book. 

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