Another Trip Around the Sun: Four Things This Year Taught Me

Another Trip Around the Sun: Four Things This Year Taught Me

What I carried down a mountain on the Isle of Skye

Sara Kuburic

Sep 29, 2026

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For my birthday this year, I went to Scotland.

(Last week!)

And, as one does, I climbed the Old Man of Storr.

It was grey and wet, and the fog swallowed everything past a few feet. It was the kind of weather that makes you feel like the only person left in the world. It was exactly what I needed: a place to sit with the year behind me and let it go quietly as the new one came in.

Here’s what I carried back down.

I. I’m learning not to let the bad moments steal the good ones.

This year I learned how to read a disappointing email and still laugh at dinner with my friends. The bad thing already took what it took. It doesn’t get the rest of my night too.

I’m learning to hold both at once: the heavy and the sweet. More than that, I’m learning to guard the good things fiercely, especially when the bad is loud.

II. I’m learning to say, “I’m excited to find out why that didn’t work out.”

When you’re in the middle of it (the rejection, the failure, the door closing), it’s hard to believe you’ll be okay. It’s hard to believe your life will still turn out beautiful. It’s hard to admit there might be a good reason behind it.

But I keep looking back and finding the same thing: The things that fell apart were (more often than not) protecting me, or redirecting me. They taught me what I needed to learn, or spared me what I didn’t. They led me to people and places and joy I never would have found on the other path.

So now, when something doesn’t work out, I try not to spiral.

I get curious instead.

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