Here’s something I’ve learned in the last couple weeks: putting a positive spin on life. Last week, I took a trip all the way from Ireland to Sweden by myself. I was slightly nervous, as it was quite a long trip and I was going without any help from someone. This is not something I would normally do. If you know me at all, you know I usually don’t trust myself enough to get along without help. I told myself this trip would be fine, though, and it was.

On Thursday morning, I woke up and got on the bus to Waterford city, and then I took another bus to Dublin. I was picked up at the airport in Sweden and spent four wonderful days there. Everything went by without any problems – until I was on my way home.

To start off, my plane left an hour late. I sat around anxiously, worrying that I wouldn’t get back to Dublin in time to get down to Dungarvan. But when I got to Dublin, there it was – the bus to Waterford City. I hopped on, forgetting that there are two routes to Waterford. One takes about two and a half hours, and the other takes an entire hour more. Guess which one I got on.

About halfway through the bus ride, everyone else on the bus had gotten off, and the bus driver came back to see who was left. I casually asked if I would get to Waterford in time to get back to Dungarvan. He thought for a moment before the realization hit him. “You won’t make it back in time for the bus to Dungarvan,” he told me.

Normally, this would be the point where I would start freaking out. My hands would start sweating, my heart would beat faster and my eyes would start to tear up. I was stuck in the middle of Waterford City with nowhere to stay and no way to get home. Usually, this would be a personal tragedy. But it wasn’t.

I calmly picked up my phone and called someone to come and get me. That’s it. When the bus driver continuously apologized, strange and wonderful words came out of my mouth. “It’s perfectly fine. I get to see more of the country this way.” For the first time in my immediate memory, I unintentionally put a positive spin on something that could’ve been negative in my life.

This whole notion was advice given to me by Fearghal, one of the friends of Mercyhurst here in Dungarvan. I sort of took it as a joke at first, but really, it’s an excellent way to look at life. There are always ways to look at something negative with a positive outlook. And if you do, it makes you enjoy every aspect of life instead of dreading some of it. Everything in life can be looked at as something positive.