Passion, joy and something to look forward to is an anecdote to anxiety.

When I was 8 years old, a couple friends and I would call up local businesses and ask if they could send us a few of their business stickers.

We got a lot of – what? Pardon? You want what?

When I think of it now, it sounds a little absurd.

On the other hand, we were very committed. We repeated exactly what we were up to and why we wanted the stickers with no apologies.

“We collect business stickers. We have a big album. We have them from all over Alberta.” (My home province in Canada).

Shiny ones were the best. Often long haul trucking companies had sparkly ones, even better.

Some people would take our address and pop them in the mail. Others would ask us to send them an envelope with return postage. Either was good.  We ended up getting a surprise in the mail and split the stickers.

Maybe I am thinking about it more as Tess starts to grow up and has all sorts of hobbies.

She loves stickers, bracelets, magna tiles (hours of fun).

Whether it’s kids, nieces, nephews or for yourself, passion, joy and something to look forward to can be a critical part of a challenging year.

Defeating Average with sparkly stickers.

Colin