PUBLISHER’S LETTER

For many of us, the start of a new year is a time to look back and analyze where we’ve been and where we want to go. But what if you’re happy and content with your everyday life experience, as it is right now?

So often we think having something new, more possessions, will put us in a better place. Or traveling—leaving behind all-too-familiar surroundings for an exotic locale—will add excitement and glamour to our lives. After all the everyday routine can be a bit boring: sleep, eat, go to work, come home, eat again, watch TV, sleep and repeat.

However, I have learned that such changes, as buying a new shiny bauble or making a trip across the ocean, can indeed briefly alter our daily routine, but eventually they too become just another part of our normal life. We can change our external environment all we want but our normal life—in other words, our mind—is always there. And a restless mind will always be searching for something more. Something no new purchase or overseas vacation can provide.

So instead of analyzing where we’ve been and where we want to go in 2019, perhaps it’s time to examine more closely where we’re at now. I’ll bet you’ll find many things to be grateful for that will put your mind at ease. Don’t underestimate the power that lies in your normal life—its joys, flaws and everything in between—because that, I believe, is sometimes the best place to be.

And in January and February, one of the best places to be is outdoors in beautiful Southwest Florida, which explains why we chose to focus on the outdoors in this issue.

Consider attending the many open-air art activities in our area or a spring training baseball game at JetBlue Park, or perhaps riding a rental bike around our barrier islands, coastal parks and recreation areas. You’ll find stories on these activities and much more in the pages ahead.

As we start another year, the TOTI Media team wants to wish you and your loved ones a very prosperous 2019.