<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><h1 style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.6rem; line-height: 3rem; flex: 0 0 80%; caret-color: rgb(52, 52, 52); color: rgb(52, 52, 52);"><span style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 17.6px;">How the Worst Day of My Life Became the Best</span></h1><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; caret-color: rgb(52, 52, 52); color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: "Poets Electra", Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><i><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">When you are trapped in a nightmare, your motivation to awaken will be so much greater than that of someone caught up in a relatively pleasant dream.</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><br style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">- Eckhart Tolle</span></span><br style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"></i></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; caret-color: rgb(52, 52, 52); color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-size: 17.6px;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">When I realized the storm</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">was inevitable, I made it</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">my medicine.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; caret-color: rgb(52, 52, 52); color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-size: 17.6px;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">Took two snowflakes</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">on the tongue in the morning,</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">two snowflakes on the tongue</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">by noon.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; caret-color: rgb(52, 52, 52); color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-size: 17.6px;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">There were no side effects.</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">Only sound effects. Reverb</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">added to my lifespan,</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">an echo that asked—</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; caret-color: rgb(52, 52, 52); color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-size: 17.6px;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">What part of your life’s record is skipping?</span></em><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">What wound is on repeat?</span></em><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">Have you done everything you can</span></em><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">to break out of that groove?</span></em></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; caret-color: rgb(52, 52, 52); color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-size: 17.6px;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">By nighttime, I was intimate</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">with the difference</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">between tying my laces</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">and tuning the string section</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; caret-color: rgb(52, 52, 52); color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-size: 17.6px;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">of my shoes, made a symphony of walking</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">away from everything that did not</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">want my life to sing.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; caret-color: rgb(52, 52, 52); color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-size: 17.6px;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">Felt a love for myself so consistent</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">metronomes tried to copyright my heartbeat.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; caret-color: rgb(52, 52, 52); color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-size: 17.6px;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">Finally understood I am the conductor</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">of my own life, and will be even after I die.</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">I, like the trees, will decide what I become:</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; caret-color: rgb(52, 52, 52); color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-size: 17.6px;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">Porch swing? Church pew?</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">An envelope that must be licked to be closed?</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">Kinky choice, but I didn’t close.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; caret-color: rgb(52, 52, 52); color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-size: 17.6px;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">I opened and opened</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">until I could imagine that the pain</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">was the sensation of my spirit</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">not breaking,</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; caret-color: rgb(52, 52, 52); color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-size: 17.6px;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">that my mind was a parachute</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">that could always open</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">in time,</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; caret-color: rgb(52, 52, 52); color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-size: 17.6px;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">that I could wear my heart</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">on my sleeve and never grow</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">out of that shirt.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; caret-color: rgb(52, 52, 52); color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-size: 17.6px;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">That every falling leaf is a tiny kite</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">with a string too small to see, held</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">by the part of me in charge</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">of making beauty</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;">out of grief.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; caret-color: rgb(52, 52, 52); color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-size: 17.6px;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;"><br></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem; caret-color: rgb(52, 52, 52); color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-size: 17.6px;"><span class="long-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-indent: -32px; margin-left: 32px; display: inline-block;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>- Andrea Gibson</span></p></div></body></html>