As 2022 draws to a close, I want to take a moment to list down all the things that I’m grateful for this year. When I was younger I would usually end the year with a list of things that I accomplished - the things I was most proud of. But now that I’m a little older I realize that gratitude brings me more joy than feelings of pride. Do you feel the same?

Here’s what I’m grateful for this year!

Are you feeling demotivated and less confident these days? You’re not alone. I think some of it has to do with how everything felt so normal in December - there were gatherings with family and friends, and we felt like our old self again - but January dashed that feeling on the rocks. Many got sick and isolated at home, and the outside world felt like we’re in the first couple of months of the pandemic. Again, like a bad B-movie on loop. Anyone would be wrecked; I know I am.

Today I found a vlog I made of what a week in my life looked like in 2018. I would attend brand events, launch events for clients, play tennis, row, and speak at a conference in front of hundreds of people all in a week. I liked that life, and thought that’s how my days would look like until I change my mind. But the pandemic, of course, took away that choice. I would often wonder in the past year and a half who I really am beyond that life. Am I relevant or successful or even the least bit useful if I weren’t doing those things?

When I was younger I believed with all my heart that if things were not perfect, they were worthless. It started when I’d watch shampoo commercials with beautiful women bearing only shiny, straight hair. Comparing my curly, frizzy hair with it - often described as the enemy in those commercials - made me hate my hair with a passion. I was seven or nine. I almost poured boiling hot cooking oil on my head thinking that’s how hot oils worked. Luckily I didn’t but that’s only because the plastic container melted.