“New year – a new chapter, a new verse or just the same old story? Ultimately we write it. The choice is ours.” Alex Morritt
The new year brings memories of bon fires on the beach, holding hands, laughing with friends. It is summer time in SA this time of year, where the end of the year is synonymous with chilling in the heat of the sun, it’s wearing your bathing suits and sandals, barbecues (aka braais) with family and friends, and dancing in the street with live music. Today living in Canada, the end of the year and the holiday season, are much different. Here it’s about playing in the snow, Christmas and Chanukah lights, winter jackets and boots.
I changed my story 23 years ago when I emigrated and left the only home I knew. I took a story I had been living most of my youth and started writing a new one. In my new story I had to leave most of my family behind. I had to deal with below zero temperatures and had to find my way in a big city, with no friends and no job. Celebrating the holidays was lonely. I longed for what was.
It took me a long time to make Canada my home but as my journey in this country progressed, friendships blossomed, a new family grew, and the cold weather made me try winter sports that I would never have otherwise have tried. My new story started to feel a little more comfortable as time moved on. Now I look back and feel blessed to have had experienced both stories, the one filled with summer sunshine and the other filled with the feeling of a winter wonderland.
The holidays can be tough for some. We land up thinking about what once was and what we cannot get back. We can be stuck in the same misery over and over again. My new years wish to you, is for you to keep changing your story until you find your happy. And should that happy disappear, there’s another story for you to write. The choice is yours to make.
HAPPY NEW YEAR from GET FIT WITH GAYLE to ALL OF YOU!!
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