For the last few years, I’ve been working on breaking my cynicism. Through most of my adult life, I’ve had that subtle vein of irritation and skepticism of people’s intentions. Though I’ve always been able to see the good in most things, there’s always been that nagging ‘something else’ tarnishing the shine.

And while I still view all things with a wide lens, I’m doing my best to focus on the positive.

So when I began writing a farewell to 2020, the last thing I wanted to do was what I knew everyone else was doing: talking about how shit the last twelve months had been.

Rather than bitch and moan about the seemingly endless list of garbage that happened last year, I decided to focus on the good.

My plan was to seek out a list of twelve positive and uplifting moments from the year; one for each month.

But what happened surprised me. I began working backwards, starting with December, and what popped up was overwhelming. There were so many amazing and uplifting events around the world in the last month alone that I couldn’t narrow down which one to choose.

So I scrapped the idea altogether.

Rather than spending a bunch of time trying to pick out my favourite stories, I figured you can choose your own.

Most media — social and otherwise — tend to focus on the bad. Finding the good often requires a little effort on our own part.

So spend a few minutes today looking up some of the happier stories from 2020.

And remember that regardless of the inevitable pain, heartbreak and tragedy that will come with this and every year to come; there is more good in this world than bad.