If I find myself complaining about anything, I know I have to do an inventory on my life. Yes, there are things worth complaining about, but they don’t get me anywhere.

One of my favourite articles on this site is When Everything Goes Wrong, Practice Gratitude. It’s the article I go back to all the time when I find myself frustrated.

I have so much to be thankful for. I have a beautiful family. I get PAID to play live music. I have a great job. I have an amazing Dad who is always there when I need him. I have a roof over my head. I have food on the table. I have two vehicles that get me from A to B. I have great friends. I don’t live in a war-torn country. I’m lucky.

Right now in the world there is a lot of scary things happening. I try to avoid the news because it’s never positive, but it’s hard to completely avoid. I can get wrapped up in the headlines for sure, but it never has a good impact on my mental health.

There’s so much out of my control, so I don’t focus on those things. I focus on what I can.

I control how I show up every day. I control my mood. I control my reactions. I control the content I consume.

I am lucky because I get to listen to podcasts and audiobooks while I’m working. I love True Crime, but I have to be careful how much True Crime I expose to myself. I’ll notice I can get down hearing about horrible people doing horrible things. I then have to change to a motivational uplifting podcast.

I’m lucky that I get to take my family on a little trip in a couple weeks. My stepdaughter Ava and I are going to see Hardy live in Edmonton, featuring opening acts Cameron Whitcomb and McCoy Moore.

While we’re there I get to visit my good friends Matt and Rae and their kids, get to hit up West Edmonton Mall, and have some good eats. It’s not an all-inclusive stay in Hawaii, but it’s a beautiful memory my kids will have forever. Not all families get to do that.

There was a time not that long ago that I was very grumpy. I was in a rut. I wrote about it. I promised all you readers that I wouldn’t hide the truth in my day to day. I want to be transparent and open. I had to practice what I was preaching. I did. Now I’m better.

The other night I was scrolling through TIK TOK and came across this clip about the power of manifesting. The channel told me this message came for you from your spiritual guides, and you’re seeing it for a reason. It told me to look at the clock and type those four numbers in your search engine along with the words “angel number”.

Here’s what I got;

I can hear the trolls and negative nancy’s already saying “SNAKE OIL!!!! It was all a trick of the algorithm. Every single variation of four digits and angel number would lead you to something. You’re so stupid.”

Maybe. Maybe you’re right. But in my world, I know that message was sent to me.

The imposter syndrome has been strong with me during this journey. I ain’t gonna lie. At one point I was looking at the cost of engineering courses because I knew I could switch career paths and be certain in five years I’d be bringing in more dollars by then. This dream of becoming a motivational speaker and world-renowned Author isn’t a sure thing.

True. It’s not a sure thing. But it’s only not a sure thing if I give up. I’m not giving it up though, and the universe sent me a message to remind me.

I’m lucky.

Oh and guess what, I didn’t have an article ready for last Friday, so I missed it. I said I’d have a new article out every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, but I missed last Friday. I ran out of time.

The old me would’ve let myself spiral into missing article after article because of one misstep. Instead, I let the day pass. It’s probably a good thing actually, because if I rushed an article out, I wouldn’t have written a good article at all.

Instead, I waited for life to slow down a bit, and I focused on being more present with my family. Then when I had the time to hunker down and do some inspiring writing, I wrote a bunch of great articles.

Going forward, articles will come out on Mondays and Wednesdays, with the odd Friday article published if inspiration sparks. I have other irons in the fire I can tend to in the mean time.

I’m lucky. I love writing and I love how I can handle whatever life throws my way. Nobody is gonna save you, so you might as well embrace what you have.