Every situation, no matter how grim, can be looked at from more than its obvious perspective.

A glass of water: Is it half-full, or half-empty? My thought: Who cares?

If you're thirsty, you've got a glass with water in it. Drink up, quench your thirst, life goes on. One quality I'm truly grateful to have bestowed upon me from my mother, is her ability to find the good in any situation. Sometimes it's harder to do, but there's always a way to look at something in a positive light rather than dwell on the negative, if you're open to finding that possibility. As I'm writing this, I'm sitting on my couch with one of the worst ear infections I've had in all my years of life. I don't know how it happened, but it happened. I can't change that, but what I can do is change how I feel about it.

Sure, I'm bummed about it. I had to miss out on some things, but something very good did come of this.

For all of my life, I've never been able to swallow pills. I've tried for many years, and for whatever reason have never been able to get them down. I'd put one in my mouth, and it would swish around. I'd drink water... a little bit, a lot, nothing would help. I'd wind up having to spit the pill out and never be able to get it down. Some medications, which only came in pill form, I'd have to crush up and put into applesauce, even as an adult. I didn't want to do this forever, and I was determined to learn how to do this. Everyone else I knew could do it; even people I knew growing up couldn't, and now miraculously could. I was determined to jump on that pill-popping bandwagon. As it turns out, it was surprisingly easier than I thought.The problem, at least for me, was simple:  I was overthinking the whole process.Everyone had told me their various ways of doing it...

"Put the pill in the back of your throat, right on your tongue."

"Take a little sip of water, and just....*gulp* it down."

"Just do it."

So, a little over a month ago I told myself that if anyone else can do it, so can I. I went into the kitchen, got a small cup of water, and popped a Zyrtec pill in my mouth and just swallowed it without giving me enough time to overthink it. Rather than get myself psyched up, I just pop the pill in and swallow it with a little gulp of water. The more relaxed I am, the easier it goes.

I was overjoyed. I then went to the store and picked up a bottle of men's multivitamins, which were considerably larger than the Zyrtec pill. I tried to take it, and it went down. I can do this!

I tried to take the multivitamin pill again the next day, and the original issue happened. The pill swished around in my mouth and I couldn't swallow it. I started getting freaked out again, and then sat down to think about it. I work in technical support, so taking a more analytical and logical thought process to this seemed appropriate: I've already proven that I'm physically able to do this - I've taken one larger pill and one smaller one and swallowed them without issue, so this confirmed the problem was completely in my mind. I waited a few days, then tried again with a multivitamin - down the hatch. Fast forward to now...I have one bottle of liquid, but when I get it refilled I'm going to request it be in pill form... mainly, because the liquid doesn't taste that great!

I'm fighting an ear infection now so I'm taking two extra sets of pills, but this has been good practice for me to get accustomed to swallowing things whole. I've gotten to the point where I no longer need to drink water to get them down. I can put a pill in and swallow it, and just use the water to wash it down, since sometimes it tastes funny just after swallowing it. Not a bad problem to have, if you ask me.

So... the good from the bad... I've got a nasty ear infection. My left ear feels like it's being stabbed with an ice pick... the good: I've finally been able to swallow pills, it only took 36 years.There's always something good to come from a bad situation: Just look for it. It's there, and it just might help you get through whatever's going on and make the experience just a little bit better.