Each year at this time, I select my top ten favourite blog posts for my annual year in review.

I was a bit worried this year that pickings would be slim. Truth be told blogging about happiness during a global pandemic is a bit of a tough slog. With little prospects for fun excursions, and at times struggling with my own mental and physical health, there were many weeks when I wondered what simple act could I share this week to make the world a happier place?

But as I re-read the posts two things hit home. You can feel moments of happiness and gratitude at the most unexpected times and by doing the simplest of acts.

The other realization was happiness cannot be viewed in isolation. We are vastly impacted by events happening around us. My blog this past year has been as much a reflection and chronicle of the times as anything else.

Here were my favourite happy acts from a year that will go down in the history books as a year to remember:

• Humanity discovered the healing powers of nature in 2020. From to Where Eagles Dare, to The night time is the right time by guest blogger Alison Taylor to my light-hearted look at going “Covid crazy” in If I could talk to the animals, I shared how we found happiness in the natural world around us.
• Food and drink became a panacea in 2020. Guest blogger Jill Yokoyama took us on a visit to Sunshine Donuts in Burlington in Treat yourself to a decadent donut, and I paid homage to the healing powers of garlic in Ode to the stinky bulb.
• In Good Riddance to the Year of the Rat, I examined why it wasn’t surprising 2020 was a dirty, dastardly disaster of a year.
• Stories of resilience and humour provided inspiration in a bleak year. I introduced my readers to the incomparable Pearl Killingbeck in Pearl’s Coronavirus Diaries and shared uplifting stories and my favourite social distancing pick-up lines in Putting the social in social distancing.
• While COVID-19 dominated the news, the U.S. Election and Black Lives Matter also captured our attention in 2020. In Sleeping with an elephant, I shared how I was never more grateful to be Canadian and my personal thoughts on systemic racism in Start with the main in the mirror.
• 2020 was also a year for self-reflection and inspiration. In Living a life of no regrets and Always check all the boxes, I explored the theme of regret and the power of gratitude and forgiveness in The four most important words you can say and Go easy on yourself.
• And my favourite post this year, a message to the next generation in If I were Oprah Winfrey: my commencement speech to the graduating class of 2020.

There you have it. Another year under the bridge, another year of happy acts. Here’s to a happier 2021 for us all.