I was not always a positive person – I was depressed, full of worry over money, my kids  and just life in general.  I hated feeling that way, and was at a loss of what to do.  My kids fed off of my attitude and became the same way.  It took me moving away from Ontario to become the positive person I am now.  Between moving to Calgary and then moving to Prague, I realized that the environment I exposed myself to back then definitely affected my attitude.

Now that I have returned to live in Ontario after being away since 2011, I have become very aware of the negativity in my life.  I remain a positive person, but the people I am exposed to are incredibly negative people.

There comes a time in every woman’s life that the change happens – yes menopause.  I am going through it right now and hot flashes are NOT fun.  I don’t seem to be experiencing mood swings but there are people at work going through this right now.  In particular, one woman.  She is the most negative, miserable person I have ever met in my life who has the biggest mood swings I have ever seen.  And her mood has almost made me succumb back to my negative thinking.  One day last week, she had me in such a state, I was glad to have my break.  During my break, I sat down, closed my eyes and meditated.  I realized that it was not me in particular that she is angry at (well maybe it’s me a bit but I don’t know why and that’s not my problem).  After deep breathing and then listening to some music, I came back, put a smile on my face and have not let her bother me since.

I refuse to let anyone ever again affect me and my positive attitude.  The customers enjoy talking to me, my other fellow employees and I  have a lot of fun working together and I love this job.  It is not teaching – one day it will be my career again but right now is not that time.

I know I do not need to move away to find peace in my mind and enjoy my time back in my hometown.  As I have discovered, there is so much to do in  life and so much to see and enjoy, and I won’t let little things bring me down like I did years ago.