So I did what anyone does who suddenly has too much time and no money…I got accepted to grad school and will finish my thesis by the end of next month. Next time I ask the universe for more time, I’ll definitely ask for the money to live on with all that time.

I get really tired of people telling me it could have been worse, at least I’m not in a wheelchair. And I say yeah, thanks for telling me how great life is for that reason. I want to find my lessons from this, but hearing other people tell me what those lessons “should” be makes me cranky!

Thanks so much for sharing yourself and your journey. It let me realize that I don’t have to discover all my blessings right now, but can anticipate the discovery of each one in their own time.

On my “Things to be insanely grateful for much, much later on…” list, my separation from my husband which has been an incredible learning experience and yet an incredibly painful experience in general. And my current difficulties, the root of which is Fear and getting to know it.

I will be thankful for this opportunity to grow. Much, much later.

Glad to hear that your ear infection is done for good. Blech. Sorry you had to go through that too!

@Tiara – absolutely. That is so true. And it’s so tempting to make it an either/or thing when everyone around us is doing it.

It’s also hard to stand up for what you need and say “hey, I’m upset *right now*. I need support, not a lecture on how this is actually a good thing”. People who want you to be grateful way before you’re ready to are trying so hard to help that they can’t even see how violent it is. And then explaining that is also kind of impossible too.

@Gadgetgirl – oh nooooo! Good luck with that. What a hard, uncomfortable situation to have to go through. Sending you love.

@Weehoo – wow. Wow. What a story. And glad your girl is okay now. Learning stuff the hard way. Hug.

I was lead to your blog from Seth Godin who lead me to Chris Guillebeau who lead me to you, and I have been devouring your archives all weekend. Yeah, I am now an official stalker. But in a good way, if there is such a thing.

I am walking away with this for my readers – “There is good experience … and then there is useful experience.” – as in I am truly walking away with it, I am stealing it, is that proper etiquette? I will credit you and your teacher, but this was profound.

Funny how you can read something like your experience with your ear infection and BAM, there is kindred spirit juice flying all through the air. Had ONE ear infection – lasted a good 5 or 6 months – finally got it fixed thru acupuncture of all things, and it taught me many MANY valuable lessons – one is to never get another ear infection for as long as I live (going on 35 years without a repeat performance) – there are others but why bother you with my mundane rantings.

Enjoyed the post, you can add me to a faithful follower to you and your duck. Looking forward to your post on being insanely grateful much later on. Great to meet you!

Just the other day, I started working on a “Future Gratitude” list with my husband around some things that are happening that appear to be not so great, but, we suspect, will be catalysts for future coolness!

It’s such a pleasure to read your posts!!

Everyday Yoginis last blog post..Peace by Peace: A Nationwide Yogathon

Don’t know if you’re familiar with StoryPeople- the brainchild of storyteller and artist Brian Andreas (see http://www.storypeople.com) but he has a story/drawing that your post reminds me of. You’ll have to visit storypeople to see the drawing- but here’s the text:

Maybe I don’t want a Happy New Year, he said. Maybe I want an intense New Year with a lot of growth experiences
& I had to admit I’d never thought of that

kind of reminds me of dissing the rainbows and sunbeams up front!

Thanks for sharing your process and perspective!