What a difference a lowly year can make.
As I look back on the rollercoaster that has been 2019 – I have to admit it has been mostly ups. It’s also been laced with its fair share of sorrow and threaded through with a fair bit more stress than I care to admit (again, I’m lookin’ at you red tape!)…but yes, mostly up.
2019 showed me that what I have always believed is true: happy endings exist, but they take work. It taught me that there are always ups and downs and that sometimes you are going to feel like you absolutely fail at this whole “being an adult” thing. But you know what? For every time you feel like a failure? There is going to be a time when you feel like a phoenix rising from the ashes. I have discovered hidden skills and buried pools of talent that I had no idea where there just waiting to be discovered. I have perhaps lightly singed a few bridges and repaired a few more. Things have been…interesting. And hovering over all that is the fact that I went through a major life transition when I walked down an aisle towards a man that I absolutely adore. Leaving behind one part of my life and walking into another. 2019 was a year of leaps of faith and new adventures. It was a year of hope and fright all rolled into one.
And then there were the bigger things.
These are trouble and chaotic times in which we live. The world is becoming – seemingly daily – a very frightening place. But that doesn’t mean it has to stay that way. Because the other thing that 2019 reminded me of? No matter how small you feel, no matter how insignificant; you can make a difference. Even if the only person you are making a difference to is the person sitting next to you on the bus. Like I say nearly every year: tomorrow is the beginning of a 365 page book…you get to choose what you write in it. That story is totally your own. Just remember that: what ever choices you make, whatever reactions you have…make your story a good one.
And when all else fails? Please be kind.
Happy New Year everyone.