When we get close to the end of the year many of us say, “I’m ready for this year to end. It was a bad year.”
We often focus on all the bad things that happened in the year, forgetting there were also good things. It’s easy to think about everything that went wrong in the year so that we can hope that a new year will be better. But it shouldn’t be the negatives of the past year that carry us into a new year. It should be the positives that build bridges for an even better year.
I can easily go through a list of things that went wrong in 2025. It was a rough year with my loved one being diagnosed with dementia and diabetes. I could easily talk about everything that went wrong in the past year, but it serves no purpose. Instead, I will list the positive things that happened in 2025.
Below is my list of positives:
I received an award from the president of the United States; I received a proclamation from Buffalo, NY’s mayor, declaring February 21 “Aimee Eddy Day” and I also received other awards for my work for One Life Project.
I had cataract surgery on both of my eyes, giving me new vision. I can see without glasses. I just need reading glasses.
My husband and I have taken many rides around Erie’s Peninsula. We enjoyed the scenery and time together.
My husband retired and I no longer must take the bus to work.
I threw a surprise retirement party for my husband and he was shocked. He loved the party.
We spent a romantic night in a hotel for our wedding anniversary.
I celebrated thirty years at my job with a dinner at Acrisure Stadium and a tour of the stadium.
I found a therapist that I really like who is helping me through my loved one’s dementia.
I got to see my niece and her family whom I haven’t seen in a few years.
I got Thanksgiving week off from work which I haven’t had off in thirty years.
I must admit I had to really think hard about the positives of last year. The bad things that happened weigh me down, but coming up with this list lessened my burdens. It made me realize that last year wasn’t so bad after all. I’m not throwing away a bad year; instead I’m using the positives of 2025 to build a positive bridge into 2026.
I know with mental illness it’s easy to just see the negatives in your life, but there are positives. To you 2025 was a bad year and you don’t see any hope for 2026. Try sitting down with a sheet of paper and reflecting on the past year. Think about the good things that happened like a friend who called to check on you, or after several days in bed you got out of bed. There are positives in your life and if you think hard, you’ll find them. Look at 2026 as a year with hope and new beginnings.
Going into the 2026 with hopes for a good year helps me stay in the light of recovery.
When struggling with mental illness, we often see nothing but the bad things in our lives. We think the bad will never end and we can’t see past it. What we don’t see is that good comes from the bad things that happen to us. We must struggle until we find life’s positives. The rough times build us up and make us stronger.
My husband’s grandmother raised him and when she got sick, he had to move to a new city to live with his dad. His dad wasn’t the best dad in the world. He put my husband through some rough times. Then years later he was engaged to a woman who died. If he hadn’t moved to a new city and he hadn’t lost his fiancée, we would have never met and have such a beautiful marriage. God saw his struggles and brought him happiness.
I struggled with bullying to be able to write a book to help educate and help others. My book is one of the good things that came out of the abuse I faced in school. Writing the book helped me heal from old wounds. I struggled with mental illness so I can write this blog to reach out to others and help them. I struggled so good could come from it.
Before I met my husband, I was in an abusive relationship. After my partner kicked me out and I spent time in a mental health hospital, I swore I would never date again. I figured I would live with my parents until they passed and then live with one of my siblings. A lady at work insisted I meet this man whose fiancée had died. After a lot of convincing from my therapist and a friend, I agreed on one date. In six months, that man proposed to me. Who knows what would have happened if my ex had never kicked me out? I may have never met the man of my dreams and found happiness.
It’s the circle of life. Everyone goes through bad times and struggles with heartaches. If we look at the rough times and tell ourselves, “I’m struggling now, but in time something good will come out of this,” we just might be able to find hope within the darkness. God carries us through life’s hard times, and he brings us good things. He has plans for us even when we can’t see past our heart aches.
Rough times help us grow stronger and learn lessons. If life were easy, we would never grow into the people we are. Because I struggled with bullying, mental illness, and abuse from a boyfriend, I have become stronger and wiser. I have educated myself about bullying and mental illness. I’ve broken free of my fear of being hurt by others to make many friends. I have grown into a stronger, more compassionate, and determined person. That is something good that came out of the bad.
Right now, my husband and I are struggling financially, and the bills are increasing. I keep reminding myself that good will come to us. This gives me hope. It helps me from falling apart and keeps me above the dark hole.
It’s easy to see life as hopeless when things are going wrong and we are struggling. Try to look at your rough times differently. Try to see that, in time, good will come from your bad times. Better times are in your future, and good things will come your way. We don’t struggle for nothing. We struggle to grow as a person and to find the good in our lives. Maybe your husband leaving you hurts, but in the future, you might find a kinder man who will love you the way you should be loved. Look for the light out of the darkness.
Good things have come from the bad things I have faced in my life. Holding on to the knowledge that God will bring joy from my struggles helps me stand in the light of recovery.
Even when we make the best plans for our life, things can go wrong. The best plans can be ruined in a second by an unexpected illness, a tragedy, or an injury. Life never works out exactly how we want it to. Life’s unexpected roadblocks can be hard to handle when you are working towards recovery or are in recovery from mental illness. How you handle these roadblocks is what keeps you on the right track towards or keeping in, recovery.
Last week I had planned for a vacation from work. Lou still had to work, but we planned one night out of town at a hotel and a day at a safari and shopping. The rest of my vacation I planned to put up our small pool, do laundry, and get the old 70’s -80’s entertainment center out of our living room and set up a TV stand. I even planned to buckle down and work on my next book. I was going to start my vacation with a Father’s Day picnic with my dad and family. I was looking forward to a week away from work, getting things done, and having some fun, but life threw a roadblock in my way and turned my vacation upside down.
The Thursday before my vacation I felt rundown. I thought maybe it was just an off day or a one-day thing, but when I woke up on Friday, I felt even more fatigued, my throat hurt, and I was coughing. My husband told me to call off work, but I was stubborn and went in. Halfway through my shift I felt so sick I could barely stand. I went home early and had to call off on Saturday. I lay in bed crying. Since I was sick, I couldn’t be anywhere near my dad since he’s going through cancer. My oldest sister was also sick, and my younger siblings live out of town. There would be none of us kids to spend Father’s Day with my dad. I felt awful about it. This was going to be the first Father’s Day in a long time I wasn’t going to spend with him.
I called and told my dad I was on vacation and if I were better by the end of the week, we could celebrate. I set my hopes on that. I told my husband we would have to lose our money for our night away, but he told me, “We’ll see how you are by Tuesday.” I started my vacation too sick to move, coughing so hard my stomach hurt, and unable to eat much food. Father’s Day I lay on the couch, sucking cough drops, and watching movies in between drifting off to sleep. My automatic thoughts were negative. My vacation was going to be an absolute disaster. We were going to lose our money on our hotel room and be stuck at home. Everything I had planned would never get done, and I was going to spend the whole week miserable.
Lou didn’t give up on our night away. He took me to the doctor on Monday. The doctor prescribed me cough medicine and a steroid because my asthma flared up by my illness. She diagnosed me with a viral infection and prescribed me lots of rest. I was feeling better by Monday, with a little more energy, but the cough was horrible. I had to curl up in a ball and clench my stomach each time I coughed.
Lou said, “How about I drive to the hotel, we get some food to eat, and spend the night resting in air conditioning. I’ll get us some snacks foods and I’ll take care of you. Since we’re going through a heat wave the air conditioning will help your breathing.”
I wasn’t too sure about this idea. Was I well enough for the ride? Would it be fair for Lou to do all the driving? What if I just got sicker? Would I even enjoy it? I agreed to our overnight trip but wasn’t too sure about it. I feared it would be a disaster.
We went on our trip. The cough medicine helped ease my coughing, I slept while Lou drove, and when we got there, I had more energy. We were able to have dinner out and spend the night relaxing in our room, eating junk food. Lou watched sports on the TV, and I watched movies on a portable DVD player. It turned out to be a very relaxing night away and I enjoyed it. The hotel had a very good free breakfast, and we went to Walmart to pick up a few things before heading home the next day. I was glad Lou wouldn’t let me cancel it.
Thursday morning Lou called me from work to tell me he wasn’t feeling good and was coming home. He was lightheaded so I took him to the ER. We sat in the ER waiting room for over five hours without them calling us back to a room. When I asked the woman at the check in desk how much longer until they call my husband back, they couldn’t find him in the computer. She went over and took his wrist band, told me to sit down and she would be right back. We sat and sat and she never came back. We got mad and left. That night while he slept, I had extra energy, so I went outside and put our pool up. Then I went inside and lay down. The next day I took Lou to Urgent Care to find out he had bronchitis.
I kept thinking this is the vacation from hell. Everything was going wrong. First, I was sick, then a horrible day at the ER, and next Lou was sick. Then I started to look at the positive side to my awful vacation: we still got to spend the night away, I got to sleep in and watch movies all day, I still was able to put the pool up, and I did sit in it for a couple days. I didn’t have to call off from work and I got paid to be sick.
Why am I telling you about my bad vacation? Because no matter how bad things, get there is a good side to everything. It’s so hard to see it when we are going though the difficult times, but the good is there. Instead of dwelling on the bad try to find the positive in what you are going through. Good comes from the bad.
As I write this, I’m not a hundred percent better, but I’m much better than I was. I still have a milder cough, my voice is hoarse, and I’m weak, but I’m ready to go back to work. Looking at the positive side of difficult situations keeps me soaking in the light of recovery.
Facebook is full of posts about how bad 2022 was. We tend to leave the old year thinking about all that went wrong. We feel like we are shedding the hardships of a past year to start over in a new year. How about thinking about the positives that took place in the old year and using those positives to fuel a stronger and brighter new year? Every year we have trials and hardships, but we also have good things that take place in our lives.
As I prepared for 2023, I sat down and thought about 2022. I created a list of the positive things that took place in my life. Below is my list.
I published my first book. It has been my dream since I was a teenager to have my very own book published. I will always remember 2022 as the year I made my dream come true.
I found that I can speak passionately about something I feel strongly about. Since my book was published, I have been giving speeches about the damages of bullying. Without writing out a speech, I have spoken from the heart and it came out powerfully.
An article was published in a local paper about me and my book. Since the article came out, people have complimented me, told me their stories about being bullied, and have praised me for my hard work.
I went a whole year without surgery. After going through several surgeries, one after another, I am proud to have made it through 2022 without any surgeries or major health problems.
My husband and I took a long trip to my best friend Cheryl’s. I had not seen Cheryl in six years, and the trip to see her was priceless. We even got to spend time with her daughter Brianna. Lou, Esther (our dog), and I had a wonderful time at Cheryl’s house.
I spent a day with my niece from North Carolina. My niece came to visit family on her fathers’ side, and I took her out to lunch, shopping, to my house, and to Dairy Queen. We had so much fun together.
My niece, Kayla who lives in Tennessee, gave birth to her third child, an adorable boy, my great nephew. I got to meet and hold Decaln for the first time on Thanksgiving.
I threw my husband a big sixtieth birthday party. His birthday was in February, but in July I threw him an outdoor party. Despite the rain, it was a wonderful party and I enjoyed seeing him so happy.
Esther, our dog, healed well from surgery. She had a large stone in her bladder caused by an infection and had surgery to remove it. She is doing great.
My list of positive helps me look back at 2022 with a smile, and it allows me to look forward to more joy in 2023. I’m ready to continue to grow and succeed in the new year. I face the new year like a shining star shooting into a year with bigger dreams.
Sit down and write about your positive events of 2022. Don’t dwell on all the bad things that happened. Let the good guide you into a new year. As you go through 2023 remember to face the hardships with strength and hold the positives close to your heart.
2022 did have some hardships, but the good outweighed the bad. I ended 2022 with a heart filled with joy and I face the new year with even bigger hopes and plans. Keeping track of the positive helps me stand brightly in the light of recovery.
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