This is Day 43 of the Positive 100, a countdown to Rare Disease Day 2014 and an exercise in being positive despite it all.
When I was writing the list of words and making numbers, I didn’t even glance at a calendar, which is why gratitude was the day after Thanksgiving. But today’s word couldn’t have shown up on a better day. January 1st. The world is rife with good intentions and a symbolic fresh start.
Maybe it’s the nerd in me, but I always love reading Neil Gaiman’s New Year’s wish pieces. They sum up just what I feel about new years and what I generally wish for myself and my friends.
This year. A fresh start, a blank page and a heart full of hope.
Don’t you just love the feeling of a brand new notebook or the first page of a planner? White and open and full of possibility. Crisp and clean and ready to be filled up with whatever it is that I can think of. And maybe just a little bit of dread that what is put in it will not be quite up to snuff. A new year is a fresh start, just like that first page. All that promise. All that hope.
Today is the first page in a new book. And this is how I hope you fill it up.
This year, I hope you find the strength that you need to conquer your demons. That you walk into battle with your head held high because you are a conqueror, a champion and a damn good fighter.
I hope you find the light in the shadows and on the darkest of nights. I truly hope that when that light is dimmest and hardest to find that you do not give up because that light is there and you will see it again.
I hope you remember to love yourself, because you’re the only self you’ve got. Do not forget that your scars are not blemishes or marks to be hidden, but proof you fought the battle, that you made it out alive. You are important You are special and you matter. Repeat that every time you start to think otherwise.
Your silver linings are out there, and I hope, more than anything, that this year, you find them.
Stay positive my friends, this year we are going places.
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