Only Look Back For The Wins

2018 is nearly over! Do you take this time to reflect and think about the new year? Most people look at the new year as an opportunity to make some changes, make some…ahem, resolutions. I am not great with resolutions but I do like to reflect and learn from what I did or didn’t do the past year.

I heard a woman speak recently who said that she only looks back for the wins in life. This is a different angle on Ingrid Bergman’s famous “I have no regrets.” attitude. I like the idea of no regrets but it’s challenging for me. I’m one of those people who tends to lie in bed at night reviewing my day and wishing I had said something differently or trying to figure out how I could have had a different/better result. To quote Queen, “Regrets, I’ve had a few.”

But I like this new angle of looking back only at the wins. Because you really can’t do anything about the past, as much as we’d like to have a magic “do over” button. And the thing about regrets is that if you hadn’t done everything in your life exactly as you did, you wouldn’t have had all the good stuff that has come your way either. So focusing on the wins as you look back is an attitude of gratitude that works for me.

So let’s reflect on 2018 and look only at our wins. Here are a few wins from my year both professionally and personally that I’d like to share with you and I would love to hear yours as well!

1. Spoke to 400+ cancer survivors at the Pierce County Cancer Survivor Conference as the keynote speaker! Biggest even by far for me.
2. Nearly 700 people purchased or downloaded my book, WTF?! I Have Cancer? and presumably read my message of hope and optimism. 🙂
3. The Permanent Remission Project grew to a combined 2,000 or so people across all the various platforms. Yay to spreading the message!
4. I took a lovely week-long California road trip with my college bound daughter.
5. I went on a wonderful 17 day trip to Europe with my husband for our 20 year anniversary.
6. I flew past the 5 year milestone of my Mantle Cell Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma treatment and am coming up on 5 years post stem cell transplant!
7. And best of all, I had lots and lots of laughs with friends and family.

Hope your holidays have been bright and may 2019 bring you health and happiness!