New year, new opportunities

Every new year brings new challenges. I believe how we view these challenges is the most likely determinant of how the year will play out.

One can see challenges that make your life difficult, or one can choose to see opportunities to learn and grow.

Being confined to the house during Covid with very little prospects of earning money or having a prosperous new year is still fresh in my memory, and if there is one thing that this particular period of my life taught me, it is that I can do anything I set my mind to.

At the height of the pandemic when I, along with most other people I know, were in a pretty desperate state with what little savings I had rapidly depleting, the landlord pushing for rent, and the kids looking to me to keep food on the table, I decided out of desperation, to do something I would not normally have had the courage to do.

Who would have thought that a desperate idea to make a little money would turn into a proper business that today is a leader within its industry?

Who would have thought that starting said business would allow me the freedom to return to the job I feel I was born for, but was forced to abandon many years ago because it paid too little?

Yet, here I am today, happily scribing the stories of our local communities and those who strive to make positive change.

I firmly believe that this great change in my life was brought about by my attitude toward it. Instead of being negative and apathetic, I leapt – spurred on by my better half, of course – and made the change that I so desperately wanted in my life happen, sometimes through sheer hard-headedness.

Instead of getting down when problems presented themselves, I got more determined. My first sale quite literally saved us from being evicted, and within two months, I had made up every cent that I owed.

My hope for you this year is that you will see every challenge as an opportunity to change your life for the better and that you will have the courage to make bold and difficult decisions, and the wisdom to grab the opportunities that come your way.

Remember: Negativity is a magnet, but so is positivity.