With the New Year about to commence, I suppose we should reflect upon the year that is fast approaching its end. There are no shortage of jokes about 2016’s lack luster, now historical events, but I am sure that for some, the year 2016 will hold many beautiful memories. I for one celebrated a milestone-wedding anniversary and with 2016 came my eldest daughter’s independence. It was the year we traveled as a family to Budapest and Vienna. The year my youngest child began to recover from a very difficult 2015.

These are just a few things that I choose to think of when I think of the past year. Of course the year did not pass without its struggles, personal and familial, but no year does. We tend to focus at the end of each year on how crappy it was instead of remembering all the great things that happened in it. The year I was born, for instance, we were still involved in the Vietnam War, the Watergate Scandal had just blown up, and according to thepeoplehistory.com it was “marked as a black year”. I don’t think that my mother would agree with them, her personal experience not having reflected the negative recorded history, or at least I would hope not.

The end of the year always has us anxious to leave it behind, save it to the annals of history as we look to the upcoming year with so much hope and optimism. My suggestion, take a look back at the year. Don’t look at the election results, look beyond the media’s constant barrage of sensationalism, beyond all the sadness that enveloped us. There were a lot of good things that happened, such as, the ice bucket challenge that generated so many donations that funded the research which allowed scientists to discover which gene is responsible for ALS, apparently the Ozone Layer is repairing itself (I wish I could say the same for my liver), and death by heart disease has decreased by 70% in the US. Those are just a few of the many things that are on the list of good things that happened in 2016.

My point in all of this, and yes, it does take me time to get to it, is that happiness and optimism are choices that we make every day. You may choose to see the rain as an inconvenience, I choose to look at is as an opportunity to don my seldom worn hot pink rain boots and jump in puddles. You may be upset about your car breaking down, understandably so, but it allowed you to meet a kind stranger that helped you in your time of need. It is far easier, I know, to see the crap that life throws at us but if we try, really put in a little effort, we can use that crap as manure to fertilize our beautiful flower gardens! Corny, I know, but come on, its not easy being Little Mary Sunshine.

I wish you all the best in 2017 as well as in the remainder of 2016.