Are You Ready for 2016?

How was your year? It seems that there was a lot of tragic events this year. Let me just give you some facts. Scary as they may be, they are true. I did the research. Here are some of the things that happened in 2015:

• There were 80 terrorist incidents all over the world. Over 5,000 people were killed ranging in age from six weeks to 84 (Washington Post).
• 965 people were fatally shot by police. 564 had guns. 281 had other weapons. 90 were unarmed (Washington Post).
• There were 52 school shootings. 30 died and 53 were injured. (Huffington Post).
• There were a total of 330 separate mass shootings with 367 killed and 1,312 injured (Gun Violence Archive).

North Central United States seems to be a much safer place to live. Maybe it is something in the water. I am not trying to be funny. Maybe there really is a reason for it. Someone should look into this. Are there different laws in Idaho, Nevada, Utah, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Wisconsin, and Maine? Why is there so much more violence in the rest of the country? Why do we insist on killing each other? We lost a lot of people this year. Maybe one of those people were meant to change the world. One of them may have found the cure for Cancer, Aids, or some other horrible disease. Who knows? We never will. 

And there were way too many natural disasters, such as the earthquake in Nepal and China; floods in Missouri, South Carolina, Illinois, and Oklahoma; deaths from extreme heat in many states; record snowfall in Chicago, New England, and Montreal; fires and drought in California....It goes on and on. 
Very sad stuff. I know.
But........There were many good things that happened in 2015 too.

• Homelessness declined 11% in the United States
• Gas prices went down. 
• Same sex marriage was accepted in the entire United States.
• The economy went up.
• There are half as many extremely poor people in the world.
• Marijuana legalized in 24 states.
• 930,000 people took part in Good Deeds Day.
• Sesame Street introduced a muppet with Autism.
• Coloring books for adults became popular!

There were some bad times for me this year. I lost my father. And my sister. But a lot of awesome things happened too! I graduated with Honors with my MBA, and I started my PhD in Psychology. I met some great people too that have taught me things that have made me more successful in my work and my life. 
Zef Zan of Entrepreneurs That SOAR! Super Julie Braun of Super Interns, and Ivan Tirado of The Art of Ivan Tirado. 
​And there are many more of course. You know who you are. Thank you all. It has been a very successful and productive year. I hope to make it even better next year. And maybe someone will be thanking me on their website if I am lucky. Happy New Year. Just some of my thoughts.......