“I have found that if you love life, life will love you back!”
—Arthur Rubinstein

I know. It’s February, the month of love. Sometimes it doesn’t matter if you are a Miss, Mrs., or Ms., February can be a tough month to get through. There are so many expectations surrounding Valentine’s Day that many begin to compare their relationships, or lack of relationships, to the unrealistic romantic fiction coming out of Hollywood or to the love birds who constantly post their never ending happiness on Facebook.

I have weighed as high as 223 pounds. Thankfully, I don’t anymore. Being overweight for most of my life, childhood included, I became the master of excuses. Once I got real with myself, I was finally able to defeat the false reality waging war in my head, and ultimately, lose the weight.

“Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.”
—Tony Robbins

With the stress of the holidays behind me, which included two straight months of agonizing early deadlines, many extra-long workdays and weekends void of downtime, I finally feel I have a moment to take a breather. Relaxation doesn’t come often or easy for me, so I cherish the moments I get to just breathe in and breathe out and actually notice I’m doing it.

Children are to be seen and not heard. I can’t tell you how many times I heard that from my father when I was growing up. I really never bought into it, but you can bet I immediately shrank into the woodwork when he said it. I knew, in no uncertain terms, that he meant to be quiet and behave, and that meant now! I also knew that if I didn’t, I would be the one on the losing end.

My childhood memories of the holidays are fond ones. My mother always filled the house with Christmas decorations. We had a small silver tree in the den that had a color light wheel that changed the tree to green, blue and red as it spun. It was mesmerizing to my younger self, as I would lie on the couch and get totally lost in the wonderment of the holidays, while staring at that tree.