My best friend gave me the book "642 Tiny Things To Write About" as a gift a few months ago. I hadn't started on any of the prompts yet, so I figure this might be a good place to leave my writings.

To be honest, I am a bit nervous about this. Yes, I choose to write on Odyssey's platform. But I also choose what to write. By answering the prompts from "642", the topic of my weekly writing is out of my hands.

The idea of my topics being out of my hands is a little scary, but I am going to do it anyway. That's actually even more reason why I should do it.

So, here goes nothing.

Prompt #1: Write yesterday's fortune cookie. It got everything wrong.

What a way to start off these writings. Yesterday was actually a fantastic day with my two of my best friends. We went surfing at our favorite beach, played with dogs on the shore, and ate probably the best steaks I've ever tasted.

It was a beautiful day with two important people, so to write a fortune cookie that got everything wrong means writing on it the opposite of joy, beauty of life and good fortune. I guess there's only one thing I could write on it:

You will suffer considerably.

Thank goodness that one was really wrong. But then again, suffering isn't all bad. Any period of suffering is also an opportunity for growth. In times of pain or struggle, you can learn new ways to get through it. You can determine what works for you and what doesn't. You can find out what's really important to you.

Tough times are what teach us the most about the world and ourselves, so we should be just as grateful for those moments as we are for the best ones in our lives.