You’re doing great and don’t forget the message. I try to tell myself this every day. Especially, this week. This week is Holy Week and causes the most stress for me. I swear I need anger management courses or divine intervention during this time.

I tell you why: running a business with people that can be unruly will cause you to lose your cool. Not everyone is like that, but some people can drive me nuts. I try to surround myself in what Holy Week and Easter mean to me: the forgiveness of sins and the sacrifice that our Lord did to wash us from our sins. I try to stay calm and not be sinful, but that never works. I get effort for trying.

Well, it didn’t help at all when I encountered trouble yesterday. Remind you last Easter was great since I witnessed a crime. I witnessed another crime and prevented it from getting worse. I had a customer tell me out of concern that there were two teens up to no good scaling my store’s roof and scoping the place out. I said, “Really?” People can’t behave. So, I dropped many “F-bombs” on the clock and grabbed my phone and headed outside.

I yelled for them to get down because it is private property and you’ll be spending the weekend in lockup. Again I had to call the cops at this store for the billionth time and report trespassers on my property. Their real goal was to scope and eventually, rob the place. So I stopped them from committing a more serious crime. I don’t know why these past two Easters have caused so much trouble for me. Why do I have to bear witness to more crime? These people don’t realize that I suffer depression, anxiety, panic, and still have PTSD. And events like that can cause me to either binge eat again or self-harm. I really don’t want to know what Sunday holds for me. I hope for tranquility, but I know what will happen. Some people will in a rush for some coffee and yell and scream like children if the service isn’t freaky fast like Jimmy John’s.

I never said running a business is easy and there will always be stress, but everyone including my superiors always tell me, “You’re doing great. Remember that! You’re protecting your store, your staff, your customers and you.” This business is my second home and I refuse to let Negative Nellies bring me more harm than good.