When I was younger, I always looked forward to a perfect Christmas or a perfect New Years. The Christmas’ when I was a child, were often perfect to me. I hit my 20’s and my new inlaws had more dramatic family events that I was used to. Then I had some plain terrible holidays. Now that I am older, I have learned that you can’t make a perfect holiday and you can not control people’s reactions. I have simple expectations now for the holidays, I want my family together, a nice meal and the spirit of giving. I have learned that sometimes drama or uncontrollable factors happen, but that is ok. I had 3 absolutely awful holidays, and after that, all my Christmas celebrations seem wonderful.

Its all relative. I learned to focus on the little individual good parts of experiences instead of judging the whole as good or bad.

The year 2017 was the worst year ever in our family. The expression “It all happens at once” has never been more correct. Unfortunately, I had 4 major problems which caused a lot of stress and unhappiness. In 2018, we were blessed with a new baby girl and our problems started to be worked out.  Regardless what happened in 2018, I could completely appreciate the good little things that happened. After an absolutely terrible year, even a slightly crappy year seemed like a miracle. Every day that was not as terrible as the year before was a joy.  I found myself stopping to appreciate the little good things that happened every day and I found myself using the word blessed all the time. I found myself happy. For some reason, I need to experience some really troubling things to appreciate all the good in my life. I have heard people say “Live in the moment” but I do not think I appreciated the meaning until this New Years Eve. There was some good in 2017 and I am grateful for this experience. My life is more vibrant and full as it is not as black and white.

The year 2017 and 2018 taught me a lot of things, it taught me how strong I am, how to cope with stress, how to live in the moment, how to appreciate the good regardless of the bad and it taught me to see how blessed I really am. I would not have learned most of these things if I had not experienced all the things in 2017 and then the things in 2018.

It’s all relative!