I am, or I try to be, a positive person. Glass half full kind of outlook. It can be easy to lose sight of that sometimes. Even with the gratitude practices and positive affirmations, when things don’t seem to being going the way you feel they should, it is hard to not be discouraged.

But, despite the hardships, loss, and upset, life isn’t all bad. There have been good things in 2025. Lots of little moments – a couple campings trips, a fun weekend spent camping at my sister’s for my niece’s 25th birthday (25!! How did THAT happen?!). Weekends at my Mom’s eating pizza and watching Star Trek. But I wanted to find three things that made some kind of impact on my life. Not necessarily life altering change (but could) but maybe helped me to see life in a different way.

First on the list was a trip I took with my sister (and brother-in-law) to Calgary. It was a last minute idea and involved a stop at the Wolfdog Sanctuary. It was a couple nights in a hotel and casino (a first for me) and was about getting away, relaxing, and decompressing. We had been helping Mom a lot since she’d been diagnosed. She’d been through two small surgeries already and we knew the third was coming. It was time to ‘let our hair down’ from all responsibility and let go.

I had gambled only once before. It was my niece’s 18th birthday. I put $20 in a machine, gave my niece $40, and I had a drink. I didn’t understand much about the games and I lost my money pretty darn quickly! This trip wasn’t much different, though I came home with more money that I went with… Though that wasn’t the goal. The idea was to just play, have fun and not let any of the stress ‘back home’ weigh me down. And it didn’t.

Secondly, I was able to take a series of online “lunch and learns” on Dialectical Behavior Therapy. What is it? It is a type of therapy that teaches skills to help manage intense emotions, improve relationships, and cope with distress by balancing acceptance and change. It focuses on mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness. I am no expert but I am working on bettering the skills learned to help with communications with those around me.

Finally, as I have mentioned before, I am enrolled in training to become a yoga instructor. Which, for me, is kind of a big deal, given some of my health issues and physical mobility issues. But I am taking my YTT at a truly inclusive studio that has been absolutely outstanding at working with me to make sure I am making forward progress. Whether I decide to teach yoga classes, or use what I learn soley for self-betterment, I am unsure of yet, but the skills I am learning, the personal practice I am learning, has been invaluable. There have been hiccups and some unforeseeable hiccups, but overall, it has been an amazing and positive experience.

While I will be glad to see 2025 come to a close, there have been some good aspects to it as well. There are always good things to be found, if you look.