I love the end of the year because I always do a gratitude blog for Thanksgiving, a lessons learned blog for December, and a goals blog in January. It serves as a fantastic way to organize myself year by year. Since it’s 2024, I will share 24 items; I doubt anyone would read it if I wrote 2,024 items!

In 2024 I was grateful for:

1. My No. 1 gratitude item is always my family. I am grateful I still have a healthy mother and semi-healthy father, ages 85 and 86, respectively. My sons are my pride and joy, and I’m so grateful for their wives because I believe they are their perfect matches. My eight amazing grandchildren are part of this family gratitude, as are my two brothers and their families.
2. I am super grateful for the time I get to spend with my grandkids. Each one gets their annual “Grandma Day” as their birthday gift to spend a day with me to do whatever they want. They plan the day, and we do whatever we have time for, as long as the activities are safe and are approved by their parents. We have done some amazing and fun things, and every year is an opportunity to get to know the emerging human that each of them is becoming. I couldn’t be prouder. Every one of my grandchildren wrestles, and I’m fortunate to get to see a lot of their matches. I enjoy wrestling, too, so it’s always a fun time for me.
3. I’m grateful for the time I get to spend with my mother and that, despite our different personalities, we are finding ways to care for and respect each other as we both mature. I have started to interview her about life and her family background. We meet over Zoom, and I record our conversations. I will make them into one video for our family to pass on to the next generation.
4. Next up is Mental Freedom. So many things happened with these concepts in 2024. I now have 24 certified specialists and practitioners qualified to deliver the Mental Freedom Experience. I’ve personally delivered it to 160 people with excellent results.
5. The book Mental Freedom: You Hold the Key was published on July 1, 2024. It has received extensive publicity and exceeded my expectations in sales. It has also been translated into Farci. I couldn’t be happier about that and hope many more translations follow. The Southland Development Authority allowed me to present a webinar on Mental Freedom to some business owners in the south suburbs of Chicago.
6. I got word from Governors State University that my first research project for Mental Freedom garnered significant results, and they will be presented at two different conferences this year.
7. I’m so grateful for my Mental Freedom team: Denise Daub, Sylvester Baugh, and Tony Lamar 2.
8. 2024 marks the 20^th anniversary of my Choice Theory contracts with Cove Forge and White Deer Run, drug and alcohol rehab facilities in Pennsylvania. I love the work I do there with the dedicated staff who want to help people with addictions. Their care and dedication are awe-inspiring. I am especially grateful for the fact that they insist on in-person training because it is perceived as more effective, and I don’t argue. That means I get brought to Pennsylvania seven times a year, and you bet I always fit time with my family into those trips.
9. I met many interesting people who have enriched my life in various ways through my podcast, Life = Choices; Choices = Life. Similarly, I’m grateful for the podcast hosts who have had me on their programs in 2024. It has been great fun getting to know them and talking about Mental Freedom.
10. I completed our 120-hour online coaching program at Academy of Choice. This involved a huge amount of work and I’m so happy to have it completed as a new program offering.
11. This year marked the second time I was hired to train social workers at Cook County’s Social Services Department to deliver my Empowerment Parenting curriculum to their court-mandated parents. It is so amazing to have them using my work, based on Choice Theory® psychology, to help parents improve their parenting skills. I also completed a major update to the curriculum in anticipation of delivering this program more than 10 years after its inception.
12. I began a new partnership with my colleague and friend, Dr. Richard Doss. We have started a YouTube channel called Breaking the Silence: Conversations on Mental Health. He is a clinical psychologist, I am a licensed clinical professional counselor, and we have many conversations about things people don’t know how to talk about. We get you started and hope you will continue the conversations on your own.
13. I’m so grateful for my Olver International team, starting with my 20-year business manager, Denise Daub. Without her, there would be no Olver International. The rest of the team consists of Joan Karstrom my social media director; Sheri Macewko, my bookkeeper; Melissa Schwartz, my accountant; Francisco Ramirez, my marketing consultant; and Anna, the lovely woman who cleans for me.
14. InsideOut Press continues its Writers Group every month and I’m grateful for the aspiring writers who attend. I’m also grateful for the authors who trust us to publish their books. In 2024, we published Nancy Cusack’s Yesteryear Meets Today and Biljana Dimovski’s Agile Parenting. Both books are an excellent read! And before 2024 draws to a close, we will publish my 13-year-old grandson’s young adult fiction novel. I am super proud of him! I am also grateful for my team: Denise Daub, cover designer, and Veronica Daub, editor extraordinaire and interior designer.
15. I’m grateful for every person who purchased something from Olver International in 2024, anything from an e-book to Mental Freedom certification. I wouldn’t be successful without you. Thank you so much!
16. I’m so grateful for my friends. There are too many to mention here, but I’ll share some of the ones who made my gratitude lists in 2024. Pat Robey tops the list, being a friend who I see at least once a week for lunch. My college roommate, Darlene, went to Cabo with me this year and allowed me to stay at her house when I had something going on in her town. Sylvester Baugh for many reasons: always standing by me and pushing me to be better, being an integral part of my Mental Freedom team, and tirelessly functioning as my personal Uber driver, taking me to and from the airport whenever I need him to. A group of my friends from the Professional Women’s Network got together in 2024 over season tickets to Broadway in Chicago. It is always a fun time with these women—Barb, Judy, and Debbie. My friends from the foster care agency where I worked for 17 years and I have gotten together for dinner twice this year and are headed for a third time in December. It’s so fantastic when you get to pick up with friends after years and never miss a beat. Then there are my Choice Theory friends whom I got to spend some time with, Denise, Shruti, Janet, Lois, and Pat. Friends Pam and Carla from Pennsylvania visited me in Chicago this fall. My friends Conry and Rob also visited this fall. My weekend trip to Toronto this winter allowed me to spend time with friends Frenchie, Zahra, and Teresa. And finally, a woman who deserves a huge debt of gratitude is Terri Winfree, as she is my gratitude partner. Every day, we write at least five things we are grateful for and share them with one another. We are rewiring our brains to notice what’s good and right in our lives instead of unpleasant and wrong. It’s such a gift.
17. 2024 was not without its sorrow and friends lost, however. Karen O’Donnell passed away, losing her battle with brain cancer. We have had many adventures over the years. Barnes Boffey became a very close friend in 2020, during the pandemic. We spoke every month without fail and took a trip to Key West together in 2022. He lost his battle with pancreatic cancer. Al Katz, one of my Choice Theory instructors, and Bryan Zeman, another Choice Theory colleague, passed away. The most challenging for me was my cousin, Jimmy, who was only 56 and died from esophageal cancer, likely due to his dedication to being a firefighter all his life. Two men I trained in Choice Theory, Alan Butterbaugh and Stephen James, also passed away. Despite these losses, I am super grateful to have had them in my life. Their presence enhanced my life in a myriad of ways.
18. I got a new washer and dryer in 2024 and I’m super happy about it.
19. My house in Pennsylvania is finally listed for sale.
20. I’m also grateful for restaurants and being served without having to cook or clean up afterward. I’m particularly grateful for the Bang Bang Shrimp at Bonefish!
21. I am grateful for technology, especially GPS and AI. GPS gets me where I’m going, and AI is just a huge time saver for things like editing and marketing copy.  
22. I was accepted into a cohort with the Inner City Capital Connections program, a program designed to help business people understand and grow their businesses. I have learned so much. They say it’s like getting an MBA.
23. As I age, I have become grateful for a good night’s sleep. Twice in 2024, I earned a 93-sleep score with my Fitbit, and I’m always grateful when that happens.
24. Most importantly, after my heart scare in 2022, I’m extremely grateful for a clean bill of health in 2024.

I can’t wait to see what 2025 will bring, but whatever it is, I’m ready!