Words of Encouragement

A word of encouragement during a failure is worth more than an hour of praise after success.

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A nasty case of laryngitis has plagued me for the past five days. For better or worse, I decided to head to work today. To ease my throat I brought along a bag of Halls lozenges. Being on the commuter train with nothing better to do I actually looked at the wrapper and found it full of words of encouragement: Keep your chin up. Conquer today. Be resilient. Elicit a few “wows” today. You got it in you. Dust off and get up.

While I rather prefer the Baci chocolate wrappers with their words of love, nonetheless I appreciated Halls’ words of encouragement.

Sharing my new discovery with my commuter buddy across from me, he read all the texts, took out his pen and added his own:

He had a point.

Happy New Year!

It’s a new dawn
It’s a new day
It’s a new life
for me,
And I’m feeling good.

Nina Simone, American singer and songwriter (1933–2003)

2019 ended on a fine note with Franciacorta beside a warming fire. How nice is that?!

And S-I-L’s beautiful and abundant charcuterie board nourished us ‘til midnight. (Yes, surprisingly, I stayed awake to count down the ball in Times Square.)

As for resolutions, mine was set on Christmas morning when I opened a gift from a work friend:

While I may lack ‘Sophia’s’ looks and youth, I can certainly channel her passion for living.
That's my resolution. Look out 2020, here I come!
Now, I just to find a Vespa. ;-)

Wishing all my kind readers a year — nay, a decade — full of good health, happiness and passion!