Looking back at 2013 for me personally, I’m amazed at the improvements in my life, and I’d like to both acknowledge and give thanks.  Let’s take a look at the picture of where I was just a scant year ago:

• Living with my mother after separating from my wife.
• Didn’t have a steady job.
• Saw my kids on weekends, if that.
• Was barred from buying health insurance by the State of Massachusetts (a joy many in the US will come to know in the coming years).
• Had massive IRS problems.

In general, the outlook was bleak, and people often asked me how I maintained such a positive outlook.  The answer is simple: when when you’re surrounded by problems, it’s easy to find success.  Just start solving the issues, and you’ll quickly start putting together a bunch of games in the win column.

As I sit here at years end:

• I have a wonderful job working with great people like Slava Brodskiy and David Zakur at Lycos.
• I have a nice house on a pond where life is wonderful.
• Both of my daughters are living with me full time.
• I released my book last May.
• While I haven’t completely paid off the IRS yet, I have a deal with them and the contents of my checking account isn’t disappearing regularly anymore.
• I finally got health insurance again in Sept., even if it does get cancelled again tonight via Obamacare.
• After 15 years I finally own Reel-Time.com thanks to Kelly Conlin.
• Re-kindled friendships with old friends like Graham Pettingill, Jay Groccia, Kevin Condon and so many others.
• Reconnecting with relatives I haven’t seen in years thanks to my cousin Susan Haun.
• Many wonderful memories of living with my Mom, and the knowledge that my daughters finally have gotten to spend time with her.
• Finally got to meet Karl Susman face to face after years of friendship via the Interwebs.

There are so many other triumphs, I can’t name them all.  I am utterly thankful, especially to friends like Jim Spencer who helped get me interesting and good paying freelance work, Slava Brodskiy who hire me at Lycos when I needed an opportunity.

The key for me has always been having a network of good friends.  For all of you, I am truly grateful.

There was a post on Facebook “21 Habits of Happy People” and it’s worth all of us taking to heart for the New Year.  My old friend Bruce Wells sums it up wonderfully:

One of the nicest things I had said to me in 2013 was from a co-worker. She recently asked me, “How did I always stay so upbeat?” The question kind of surprised me. I am human, I have bad moments and days. I reflected on the question and answered, “It’s all about attitude. You can decide how you deal with any given moment in your life. I just decide (generally) to have a good day every day”. I thought about the question she asked as I read this article. The article definitely explains this better than I did with my brief answer. Take a few minutes to read this. Absorb what it is saying. Make a commitment to try to live each day by the concepts expressed here. It wont happen overnight. Just continue to work on it day to day and see the results. If we could all work on this the World would become a sooooooooooo much better place. Peace, Love and wishing you an amazing and fabulous 2014.

I couldn’t agree more. Decide to have a good day every day.

Cheers and Happy New Year.