And as the smog of December settled, instead of the happy winter chill it seemed like all it brought were coughs and colds and the delightful seasonal depression.

Isn’t it funny how January comes in with promise and brightness and happiness and December comes at us with the reminder of unfulfilled resolutions , unfinished dreams and just gloom?

Now I’m a Christmas lover and it took all my energy to try and drag my self up from the December doldrums! It didn’t help that the exercise routine changed and became more painful or that MS days kept popping up. The rigid diet also added to the woes…

The colourful planners which had given me so much joy through the year with glitter and stickers was also now relegated to the bottom drawer.

So I forced the joy… till I can almost feel it!

I decorated… the office and the home. With streamers and presents and Christmas trees and tons of love- I surrounded myself with happy. I started smiling- at strangers and most smiled back. One or two even came up to chat… Some chats were downright odd… but a few were awesome! And that cheered me up a bit…and I hope the smiles got a few people out of their winter funk too!

And I cut myself some slack. More often than not we count all the things that we couldn’t achieve … I started counting the things that I could.

It takes a second to make yourself unhappy.

I decided not to waste that second.

So instead of counting missed resolutions, I counted goals achieved. Instead of groaning about pain, I started marvelling how much I have been able to do this year. Rather than waking up early, I spent evenings with friends…

I have to be honest. Getting up every day, with this much pain, in such a gloomy December is hard. Sometimes (most times), I just want to roll over and wait for tomorrow. But then again- I have today and I am blessed. Many don’t. Many won’t.

You have to will yourself every day to fight another day, to laugh another day and to live another day.

But if you can do that – you are lucky…

And guess what- January with all your new hopes and dreams… is just around the corner!

P.s.-: When you want to give up… Walk On! Yes, couldn’t resist the U2 reference… Enjoy the weekend.