A Unexpected Lesson

Undoubtedly thinking something sarcastic.

Have you ever taught yourself an unintended lesson?  Had a realization that hits you like a brick wall?  Those that know me, even marginally, know that I tend to be a bit of a "wise-woman" and often use sarcasm to make light of serious things.  As November began, I observed many of my Facebook friends participating in the "30 Days of Thankful" movement.  It struck me as an ironic thing for anyone to do, because shouldn't we always be thankful for all that we have?  It certainly is useful to take time to reflect and remember all we have to be thankful for and I definitely do not knock it, nor those that participated, but the wise-woman in me awoke and I was compelled to participate in my own unique and sarcastic way. 

I decided to give the daily post my own spin, to be a little different, and, rather than post each day about things I am thankful for, post about things that I am less than thankful for - that "s" word that reflects what a vacuum does.  Much to the amusement of my friends, I began my journey with a post about realizing you were out of toilet paper and then, further realizing, it was, in fact, YOU, who failed to replace the roll.  The first few days were fairly easy to find topic fodder - but as the days wore on, it grew more difficult.  One would think it would be easy to find at least one thing to "complain" about each day, but it really wasn't.

As the days wore on, I found myself thinking more and more of the little things in life for which I was thankful, rather than random things that vacuum.  Some days, I wasn't able to post my "Day xx of ..." post at the beginning of the day, simply because I could not think of something to say.  As the realization hit me that my little sarcastic project was actually making me appreciate the positive things in my life MORE than I already did, I began to wonder, "Are those participating in 30 Days of Thankful finding it easy to post what they are thankful for each day, or are they struggling because they are examining it so closely?"

In any event - lesson learned - once again, from my own sarcasm and desire to be unique - and not a lesson I was expecting.  I am now more thankful, and humbled, than ever when I think of all that I have, both material and immaterial, and how very rich my life is and has been with experiences.  Even the experiences that were wholly unpleasant - because I learned from them.  If you participated in 30 Days, did you wind up feeling genuinely thankful or did you struggle to think of things you wanted to post about? 

Going forward, I have realized that even on the worst of days, there is ALWAYS something - many things, actually, for which to be thankful.  There's nothing quite like the profound impact of teaching yourself an unexpected lesson.



Jennifer Bacile, Tallahassee Rep., www.ecologicalbabies.com, jenniferb@ecologicalbabies.com 850-228-3800