A few years back I made a dramatic change in my life. From being a pessimist I decided to become an optimist. I know sounds good, he?! “Where do I find that button?” Well you don’t. It took a lot of hard work and self-reflection to make a chance like that and it still is a work in progress. But overall I think I’m doing pretty well.

To give you an example of how melodramatic I used to be I will tell you a story my mum used to tell me….

As a kid, I must have been about 7 years old, she found me sitting on the stairs holding a melting ice cream, crying my eyes out. Startled she asked me ‘what was going on?’. My answer between two heartbreaking sobs: “In a few minutes my ice cream will be gone!” Yep, seriously, I was contemplating the end of my ice cream and that literally tore me up.

So I refuse to be like that nowadays. I take life as it comes and try to enjoy the moment (eat that ice cream before it melts!). I don’t plan beyond what I can handle and I don’t regret the past either. In stead, I see the mistakes and problems I had, or caused, as lessons to do better in the future. And to remind myself of that I started blogging. Three years long I wrote down all the little (and big!) embarrassing, funny, silly things and mishaps that happened to me and most turned out to be really funny. Reflecting upon them put things into perspective and  often made me chuckle. Now, “Where do I find that blog?!?” I hear you ask… Yes, well it is online (here) but it’s in Dutch so most of you won’t be able to read it.

The last few years though I haven’t been writing on that blog anymore. Oh I still have my embarrassing moments worth chuckling over and I still do! The medium changed, the fun didn’t. Nowadays I put them on Twitter, Facebook or share them with my friends and coworkers. Really, my life is like an open book and I’m the one having the most fun about it. By being open and honest about both my successes in life as well as my trip-ups I show people who I really am and show them I’m fallible just like everyone else. Both in private as well as in business this has made me stronger and more secure. And most importantly it has resulted in lots of new friends and contacts.

So on the brink of 2012, looking back on 2011 I can only say I had the most awesome year! I made lots of new friends (in real life as well as in cyberspace), had the most amazing experiences (becoming an IBM Champion, walking part of the Camino de Santiago, running a 15k, doing a Redbook Residency) and found a renewed love for my work with Social Business and the IBM community.

Someone wrote me a message stating “your enthusiasm about being social is contagious!” and I’m taking that as the biggest compliment there is. I can’t wait to see what 2012 is going to bring us, so Happy New Year, make it a fantastic year, make it a Social Year!