A belated happy new year.

“The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.”

Oprah Winfrey

I used to be one of those people that couldn’t wait for a year to be over. The end of a crappy year, so I could start a new one. Something better that I hoped was waiting just around the corner.

Then one year, I got tired of waiting for that something better. Tired of having one crappy year after another. Because the problem was not with the crappy year. The problem was with me. I WAS a crappy year.

As we begin 2023, and as with the beginning of each new year, I see posts and comments about ‘Good-bye 2022… Good riddance 2022… Thanks for nothing 2022…’ etc… etc…

Do you really think 2023 is going to magically be a better year? Is there a guarantee that I am not aware that states there will be no natural disasters or world crises? And was there really nothing good about 2022?

Seriously. Nothing?

Come on. If you honestly can’t think of anything, you just aren’t trying. And yes, you have officially become the crappy year. Just like I was.

Now I get that there are circumstances that qualify as being labeled as crappy. Illness or death. Job loss. Divorce. Fires. Floods. The list is, unfortunately, long. Too long. And we have all experienced items on that list to some degree or another. For some of us, to a degree, that is just plain unfair and, quite frankly, bullshit. But no matter what or where or who brought you to an item on that list, there was also something good. Find it.

A sunny day. A puppy. A good joke. A great cheeseburger. A found quarter. This list is, fortunately, also long. Equally, and possibly, hopefully, longer. And no, I am not asking you to blow rays of sunshine out of a unicorn’s ass (see the post from April 5, 2020), but I am asking you to find one thing to be grateful for today. Just one tiny little thing.

So stop shitting on 2022.

Find the good. Find the sun. Find the puppy. Go. Find. It.

Happy 2023 is depending on you.