Editorial: I completed the Dry February challenge for the Bonnyville Health Foundation

You, and only you, have to power to choose who you want to be and how you will show up in this life. At the start of February, I was approached to complete the Dry Challenge.

Giving up alcohol for a month sounded like quite the challenge for this screech-loving Newfie, but with determination and perseverance, I have succeeded. The truth is, I have been faced with many challenges in my life. You just have to have the will to face those challenges.

“Thank you for committing to helping us transform good healthcare to great healthcare here in Bonnyville,” Dawn Weber Executive Director of the Bonnyville Health Foundation said in a email to me yesterday.

I truly do care about the communities I work in, and I am always willing to lend a hand in fundraising efforts in the Lakeland and Canada.

Talk is cheap for some, but not for this Newfie, when I say I’m going to do something I do it. I was able to fully encompass the power of a growth mindset and I told myself I can do anything I put my mind to. I have done this before, I was told many times that I couldn’t be a journalist and here I am.

I have been faced with many negative people who lack optimism. Those are the people who allow fear to control their life and doesn’t have a bone of motivation in their body.

Are you someone who doesn’t believe that you can do anything you put your mind to? If so, I encourage you to take the time to really dig in and think about why you believe this. I mean who thought a Newfie from the Bay could give up drinking for a month, especially when he is surrounded by Alberta shed drinking Newfies in Bonnyville, I know it sounds crazy, but I did it. I woke up on March 1 with a smile knowing I have accomplished my goal and stayed true to myself. I am the number one person who holds myself accountable for my actions and you should start doing the same.

You will find that the people who don’t believe that you can do anything you put your mind to will try to throw ridiculous and untrue statements at you. These types of people will hang onto whatever reason they can to excuse themselves from achieving greatness.

During the dry challenge, I took to social media to check in on a good friend rapper Crook the Kid who lives North of 60. Dylan was forced during the COVID-19 pandemic to cease performing. He didn’t let the pandemic bankrupt him and he took to the woods to start cutting firewood which he began selling. My point here is that Dylan refused to give up, and believed in himself to make it. He was truly an inspiration to me throughout this challenge as I watched him on Tik Tok in the freezing cold every day lugging wood to feed his family. He did what it took. I must have listened to his song Breathe a thousand times in February when I felt like having a drink.

Your mindset plays an incredibly important role in your life, all you have to do is believe and breathe. I admit there were times during the month when I could have used a good stiff drink, but your mindset is the exact reason why people believe or don’t believe that you can do anything you put your mind to.

You see, people who choose a life of normalcy, complacency, and mediocracy are too scared to fail. They are too scared to announce the big crazy dreams they have for their lives.

Remember this when you decide if you can do anything you set your mind to. Your limiting beliefs aren’t true and failure is necessary for great success. You matter and the amazing things that you can do in your life are what matters. Your mindset is what will determine whether you jump out of bed every day to strive for greatness, or whether you drag your butt out of bed every day and aim to just survive the ordinary. The choice is yours.

I have learned on the road in my Journalism life that people will hate me, rate me, shake me and break me, but how strong I stand is what makes me.

I can do anything I put my mind to, and you can too. All you have to do is just believe in yourself and breathe.