It's Going To Be A Good Day

Yes, it is going to be a good day. No matter how tired I am when I wake, how grumpy or worried or late. No matter what, it is going to be a good day. How do I know? What superpower do I possess to see into the future and know that today will be good? How in heaven's name can I predict that no one will cut me off in traffic or ask me 1,001 questions that will try my patience?

I don't know. I have no way of predicting if I will be inundated with phone calls, will have to explain myself over and over to different people with the same question, or have a long meeting. But, I also don't know if I will have the privilege of working with someone who makes me laugh or will recommend a good book. Someone who will leave with a thank you and "job well done!"  And that is how I know it will be a good day - because I determine it will be even before I get out of bed.

On New Year's Eve 2012 I decided that I would focus on joy. I wanted to leave behind the anxious, worried me and embrace the me that laughed until she cried and could appreciate all the small gifts life provides. I wanted to change the way I viewed the world. So I did.

It wasn't always easy... some days my list of 5 things included silliness like "This is my list so I can skip #5 if I want!" It often is a proclamation of how much I like my job, my coworkers, my boss. My landlady's Boston Terrier makes appearances; the man who walks one of the homeliest dogs I have ever seen each morning by my office also makes me smile so on the list he went. And as winter became spring, the lists got easier and easier. Some days it was done by 10:00 a.m. And I felt content. Not always happy, not always without worry, but content.

After a few months I started a Facebook Group that is "Happy, Thankful, Grateful, and Blessed" and what started with 5 or 6 of us in now more than 40. We support one another. We share accomplishments - both big and small - and vent our frustrations. We feel like sisters even though only a few of us know one another in person. We are HAPPY. And THANKFUL. And GRATEFUL. And BLESSED. Very, very blessed. And we will gladly tell you why!