2014 : My Year of Positivity

Happy New Year! Bonne année à tous !

I had the pleasure of spending the last day of 2013 in St. John’s, Newfoundland. It was my first visit to Newfoundland and Labrador. There was a lot of snow on the ground and it was cold, but the bright December sun lit up the sky. I may have been far away from loved ones as the world bid adieu to 2013 and welcomed 2014, but I did not feel alone. No matter where I went — Mickey Quinn’s Pub, The Celtic Hearth or Subway — the people of St. John’s were welcoming and friendly and of good cheer. If I had to spend the last day of 2013 “alone,” I could not think of a better place to be.

And so … 2014 has begun. Some might have made New Year’s resolutions while others (like myself) may have forgone such a tradition a long time ago. When I feel like I need to make a change in my life, I don’t wait for the New Year to arrive, or for Monday to roll around. I try (try being the optimum word) to implement change in that moment. It was Lord Chesterfield who encouraged us to, “Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.”

I have two main goals in 2014. The first goal is to work towards finding a publisher for my second novel. And, second, to finish the rewrite of another novel that needs lots and lots and lots of work. But there’s something else. I want 2014 to be a year of less complaining and more positivity. Not just for me, but for the people around me — for all of us in fact. So I’m challenging myself to be more positive or, to borrow from the title of my 5 October 2013 blog post, to “[…] Lay the Negativity to Rest.”

If it’s -20°C outside, I don’t want to find myself complaining about the cold. I live in Toronto, not Cancún. Winter is a fact of life in Canada, and I can dress accordingly for it. And if I don’t, whose fault is that …? If a colleague of mine is complaining about our work or a fellow employee, I’m challenging myself to either remove myself from the conversation or, if I’m that upset by the situation/colleague’s actions, to do something about it. Should I find myself not happy with the direction my life is going, I’m challenging myself to assess what’s working and what’s not, change what I can but not whine about how my life has suddenly “gone to hell.” In each case, I will keep the Serenity Prayer close at hand: “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; the courage to change the things I can; and the wisdom to know the difference.”

2014 will be, for me, about seeing the beauty that is this world. I hope to light up the world, and the faces I look into, but smiling, being kind towards others (and myself) … savouring all the goodness that life has to offer. Let 2014 be the year when we all take to heart the words of William Purkey, that we “Dance like no one is watching, Love like you'll never be hurt, Sing like no one is listening, Live like it’s heaven on earth.”