October 2019 was one of the hardest months of my life. I wrote a blog about it, and many of you were kind enough to read it and then personally reach out to check if I was okay. This is why I love blogging and all of you :)
It was really cool to have probably 100+ people (from my dad, to my students, to friends I hadn’t seen in years) get in touch and make sure I was okay.
In case you missed it, here’s that blog post: How the Hardest Month of My Life Made Me Believe in Myself and Follow My Dreams.
For all the people who checked in to see if I was okay, and anyone who was feeling concerned and thought of me during that time… and anyone who just needs to hear some good news right now…
this one’s for you!
You probably know where I’m going with this because of the title of the blog but I let me shout it out loud:
My February was freaking AWESOME!
I usually hate February… who doesn’t?
It’s cold (when you live in Canada as least), it’s dark… it generally sucks.
But not this year!
Of course, many of you read about how damn tired I was feeling earlier in the month when I started a new job in my last blog post: The 4 Hardest Parts of Transitioning to a New Job… And Some Major Benefits Too!
So you know that I was feeling pretty drained earlier in the month.
But another reason I was feeling so drained is that I had A LOT of great things going on!
Just like I did in October, I’m going to run you through a day-by-day of all the notable things that happened in February…
except…
This time, instead of it just being a continuous shit-storm of death, failure, and sadness (with the occasional joyous evening here and there), it’s pretty much all good, baby!
Just Before We Start…
I want to talk about the power of positive news.
We’ve had a lot of negative things happening in 2020 thus far and they’ve dominated the news cycle. I personally feel like that’s been a huge dark cloud hanging over me.
I can’t blame the news outlets, because fear and bad news definitely help with their audience engagement.
My goal here is to just cut through that a little bit with a sprinkle of good news…
News that guy who wasn’t doing so great a few months ago, had a really amazing month full of little things that made him smile!
Let’s get rockin!
Feb 1 - CHANGES! It’s a Saturday, but it’s also the first day after leaving the job I held for the past 5.2 years. I feel a bit sad, but also relieved and excited to be moving on!
Feb 2 - Ariana and I host my Dad, Step-mom, and her parents and brother for our Second Annual Super Bowl Party at our condo. I love all these people and bringing them together for great food and an exciting half-time show is always a blast. Yay to new traditions!
Feb 3 - I have the Monday off so I “pretend” I’m already a full-time Entrepreneur. I head over to my self-employed friends’ house and spend a wholesome day co-working in the bliss of my imagined future.
Feb 4 - New job baby! It’s a long, draining day… but very very exciting and energizing too! Funny how purpose can do that.
Feb 5 - We take Ariana’s parents out to a Raptors Game! It’s a blast… we win on a huge comeback and a last-second three from Mr. Scarf Energy, Serge Ibaka. Great day!
Feb 6 - I attend a Change Leadership training with my new job and we come up with a change project that we’re actually actioning. Not just theoretical. I’m starting to see the opportunity for high-level impact in this job. Very cool. Also, it’s Thursday, so I have improv class… Always fun.
Feb 10 - I take my Dad to our annual Raptors game. We have a fun dinner and then the Raptors win their franchise-record 15th straight game! Another great day!
Feb 12 - My Mom comes into town and we have dinner with Ariana at my fav restaurant and then my mom and I see the Second City Main Stage show, If I Could Throwback Time. Sooooooooo funny. Highly recommend!
Feb 13 - I perform with my improv class for our end-of-term show at Second City. Making stuff up (and singing) on stage in front of dozens of strangers… my favourite. Once again, another great day :)
Feb 14 - Valentine’s Day!!! Woo!!! Ariana and I make a nice dinner and spend some quality time together :)
Feb 15 - Ariana and I head down to Niagara to see my mom. And we take the newly expanded GO Train route that saves us like an hour on the trip. Bonus! Also, solid dunk contest that night at NBA All-Star Weekend :)
Feb 16 - My mom, Ariana and I take advantage of the unseasonably not-horrible weather and go down to the actual Niagara Falls (something we locals don’t often do) and take in the sights. Also on this day, the NBA All-Star Game is good for the first time in forever… so you know that’s got me excited!
Feb 19 - Ariana and I celebrate our 4 YEAR ANNIVERSARY! Wowie! I’m surprised it’s been 4 years already but also soooo happy and lucky to be with this amazing woman. We have a nice Italian dinner at Eataly. Very delicious and they’re great about allergies so that’s nice for me too :)
Feb 20 - Improv class… awesome as always.
Feb 21 - Pirate-themed Escape Room! Ariana and I, along with a couple of our favourite friends take on (and defeat) a very interesting escape room. Winning feels good!
Feb 23 - Ariana’s Mom comes into town for an afternoon of skating. It’s almost spring-like weather but not too hot for ice skating… kind of perfect. We have a very nice, enjoyable day :)
Feb 25 - Monster payday! I get paid out for all my vacation from my old job, plus my first paycheck (with increased salary) at my new job. It’s a lot of dough, which I added to my cushion that I will be using to supplement my income for the first few months after I leave my job to go full-time entrepreneur.
Feb 27 - My first officially sanctioned “work from home” day at my new job. It’s relaxing… it’s productive… why don’t we do this more often?
Feb 28 - We head out to Oshawa to spend the evening at Ariana’s family’s house before…
Feb 29 - We get up first thing in the morning and go up to their cottage for an awesome and fun weekend full of sledding, bonfires, outdoors, and family time.
It was only part-way through the month that I realized how awesome of a time I was having but I’m so glad I did because it really helped me enjoy every single moment.
As I said, I usually dread February. But when you fill it with new challenges, and lots of fun with family and friends… it can actually be pretty great!
I’d recommend you do the same whenever you have a month coming up that usually drags you down. We all have the power to make ourselves happy! We just have to be proactive about it sometimes!
I hope this little rundown reassured you that I’m doing much better now, and lifted your spirits a bit too!
Oh yeah! And…
Another thing I did in February that I was super proud of was LAUNCH MY E-BOOK!
I has allowed me to help a lot more people in a whole different way! Check it out!
