If we were talking a year from today, looking back over 2023, what has to have happened for you to feel happy about your year?
The brain cannot differentiate between what it hears and reality. With a 24/7 news cycle reporting that the polar ice caps are melting, hurricanes are swirling in the seas, wars are heating up around the world and we are in a deep freeze, it's tempting to feel that the world is falling apart. Yet awesome things are all around us — sometimes we just need someone to point them out. Like the moment over the holidays where you forget what day of the week it is, or that exact point when wrapping your presents the scissors just slide through the paper!
Neil Pasricha wrote The Book of Awesome which reminds us that the best things in life are free (yes, your grandma was right). With laugh-out-loud observations the book is filled with smile-inducing moments that make you feel like a kid looking at the world for the first time. Read it and you'll be reminded of the simple things in our lives to feel good about. The first scoop out of a new container of peanut butter, popping bubble wrap, being the first table called up at a wedding buffet, or a cashier opening a new lane just as you arrive. There are awesome events in our lives everyday if we look for them.
I worked with a gentleman who hand-wrote five congratulatory notes every day from events in the newspaper. Each morning he scoured the paper for things to celebrate. Two things happened. He skimmed over the bad news and focused on the good. By eight o’clock in the morning he had found and celebrated the awesomeness of life. A good start!
It turns out a little service from a lot of people can really make a difference. The past few years have tested our community and so many have responded with their time, talent, and resources. Whether it is volunteering to serve those in need, or service groups helping raise funds, or individuals responding to the need with donations to the charities, this St. Albert community has incredible heart. There is no shortage of needs in the community. Is 2023 the year you join a Rotary Club, the Kinettes, the Lion’s Club, T8N100Men or T8N100Women or the countless other groups who exist to serve in St. Albert, or volunteer to help at the food bank, Victim Services, SAIF or so many other places?
As we head to the closing days of 2022 and into the incredible gift of a new year, why not challenge yourself to walk on the sunny side of the street in 2023. Look for the awesome, live with an attitude of gratitude, give of yourself in service to others and celebrate the good. As Dr. Suess said “You're off to Great Places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting, So... get on your way!" Have a super 2023 and make it all that you want it to be!
