THE ATTITUDE IS GRATITUDE By Sara Stepa

Holy Sh*t party people there are only 11 days left in 2020, 11 DAYS! Maybe less depending on when you read this. I know so many people are counting the days until 2020 is over, but honestly peeps, things aren’t going to change dramatically and magically once the clock strikes midnight on December 31 st . The same shit you’re going through now will still be real. The same reasons you are grateful will still be true. Wishing away a bad year is like wishing away a pimple on picture day, it doesn’t go away just because we want it to. The only way for the coming days, weeks, and the next year to get better is to make it better. We gotta deal with the hard stuff, revel in the good stuff, and make a choice that our life is worth it, because we are. So to end out this year instead of simply counting the days until 2021 arrives, use your final days. My family made up this little joke, I don’t know how many years ago, that everything we did in the last week of the year would be our "las

Hey Party People, Connection is hard, especially when life feels hard. What’s unfortunate is that the times we need friends, family, or connection the most, those are the times we least want to reach out for it. I’ve been there and I do it all the time. I see friends do it often, they retreat, they isolate and stop chatting or calling anyone altogether. Pandemic or no pandemic this isn’t a new behavioural response, but rather a common behaviour so many of us have. Why do we do this? Are we afraid to let people know that we’re sad, upset, or down in the dumps? Or is it that we’re not actually as close with people as we thought, we’re not comfortable reaching out to say we’re not ok. Or is it that we have no idea what’s really wrong and don’t know what to say. Personally, I have been in all three of these boats. Unfortunately, what I’ve noticed with some friends is that when they are feeling crappy they really just want someone to reach out. They really need a shoulder to cry on, a

Hey Party People, The holiday season is officially here and the year is coming to a close. How many sleeps until Christmas?! How many sleeps until this crazy year is ova? What have you gained? What have you lost? What have you LEARNED? I’m a reflection nerd and like to take stock of my year as it comes to an end. Reflect upon my successes and failures, my experiences, new family editions, relationships and friendships and I am always amazed at how much happens in just 12 months. I do this every year but this year will be particularly interesting I think. Has this year felt like it just lasted a few months but also like a freaking decade? Anyone else feeling me on this? Like where did 2020 go? Our worlds were turned upside down, schedules completely wiped clean. The world SHUT DOWN you guys, a GLOBAL pandemic hit our world and rocked us to our core. So What has this taught us, truly what have we learned? And if you say nothing, dig deeper because there’s no way 2020 left you unchanged.

Hey Party People, What has 2020 meant to you? It's been a year NO ONE could have predicted or was ready for. How many of you have grown throughout this year, allowed your life to slow down, or had to completely stop and figure out wtf you were doing? It’s been a year that has pushed our limits but has also shown us some of the most beautiful things – at least I think so. If you don’t agree that’s ok but it's in the hardest times that we grow the most. It’s CRAP when you’re in it, but if you can take lessons from the challenges you faced and truly learn through this year, I believe, no I know, we come out of this a better version of ourselves. If instead you gave up, stopped living, and reverted into a little cocoon and said F*ck it, 2020 is a wash, guess what… 2021 isn’t going to be any better. In fact, it might even feel worst because you’ve dug yourself into a deep deep hole this entire year. There is one month left in 2020, ONE MONTH. What are you going to do with the

Hey Party People, The Holiday season is upon us and I think most people are getting in the spirit earlier than usual. People have their Christmas lights up, trees decorated, and have started their holiday shopping. For me, I usually wouldn’t even be thinking about the holidays until at least December. Normally I’d be excited about a November vacation, away on that vacation, or paying the bills once I got home from that vacation haha. I wouldn’t shift my attention to the holidays until much later, but this year is different. As we all spend more time at home with our extracurriculars canceled, traveling out of the question, and just fewer things on our schedule, the opportunity to get into the Holiday spirit early is much easier. Anyone else feeling that? Or are you dreading the season ahead? I hope it’s the former. So what does Christmas mean to you? What do the holidays represent in your family? When you think about it are you immediately stressed, or excited? Does it spark ove

Hey Party People! Who else out there has been in a slump? Maybe for a few days, maybe for a few weeks, a few months, or has it felt like this entire year? Regardless of the length of your slump you are definitely not alone. We are human and we can’t be at the top of our game all the time. Without the lows we wouldn’t appreciate the highs in the same way. Without challenge we would remain the same, not growing or changing, and who wants to stay the same their entire life? I’ve been on the struggle bus for 6+ weeks now. It's been a mixture of things. I’ve not only been dumped, but work has been increasingly busy, stressful, and overwhelming, and I once again lost my outlet of running (you’d think I’m 80 with this hip of mine!). And to top it all off, we are in my hardest month of the year, November. I don’t know what it is, but November is and always has been hard for me, and it always feels increasingly hard after Daylight Savings Time (ends? Begins? I don’t know which one it is

Hey Party People,   The HoliYAYs are here! With Remembrance Day past we can jump into the Holiday season - YAY! I know some people who actually put up their Christmas tress in October, because well... COVID but hey whatever makes you happy!   Given that the season is now upon us I want to share with you a kick ass super original idea I have for my holiday shopping this year. I bet none of you have heard of it, wait for it... wait for it....  SUPPORT LOCAL!  What an earth-shattering concept, Ammiright? Haha. I know I'm such a forward thinker ;) but for real though. Given the hard ass time so many businesses and entrepreneurs have had this year I want to hyper-focus my Christmas shopping and my Christmas outings to locally run and locally owned businesses. No Amazon Prime for this girl. I instead want to spend my time and money in my own city and support the many business owners who have had the deck stacked against them this year. So whose with me!? Its time for the HoliYA

Hey Party People,   Today, November 7, 2020, Joe Biden was just elected as the 46 th President of the United States. Democracy came through during a pandemic! The added complications and challenges that shadowed this election due to the pandemic were nothing compared to the unwavering divide of our world.   It’s scary to think how divided the US is, what’s even scarier is to realize it's not just the U.S., it's everywhere. Trump created a space for so many people to share their narcissistic and racist beliefs. He made it ok, made it acceptable behaviour, to treat others as lesser. What makes anyone else lesser than you, what makes you better than them? Just because someone might look different, maybe think different, or speak differently why is that bad? Sure it might make you uncomfortable because you don’t understand but WHY do we retreat out of fear, or lash out with anger when something challenges our norm? Where does this behaviour stem from? I truly believe that ou

Hey Party People, 2021 is gonna suck…. Yeah for you, if you already have that belief in your head. Have you already decided that next year is gonna suck? If so, check yourself and check yourself quick because if you hold onto that belief, it’s going to come true. Why not decide, right now, today, that next year is going to be better than this one. 2021 is only a couple months away, we have ~60 days left in a year that has proven to us over and over again that we never know what is going to happen, that control is an illusion, and that our world is more interconnected than its ever been in our history.   Close to the end of the year, around this time I like to take stock of what my goals and intentions were at the beginning of the year. Last year I remember I was in Cabo, strolling their white sand beaches solo as I evaluated by 2019, and set intentions for the next year, and next decade. I was excited for what was to come (and I remain excited about where life is taking me) I don