As this is the weekend before Thanksgiving, it behooves me to ponder upon and yes write about that superb principle that boosts your mental health – gratitude. In past years when touching on the subject, I’ve written about gratitude in times of trial and appreciating the bitter with the sweet. This year, I have been reflecting on the value of experience. I touched on this subject several years ago when discussing the importance of tangible connections in a digital world. Today, however, I would like to focus on being grateful for the experiences we’ve been given. Hindsight is a tremendous asset in this regard because it allows us to review the circumstances of the present through the paths of the past. What brought us to where we are right now in this place, at this time, and being as we are?

As a freshman in high school, I was in trouble, and not the “get sent to the principal” kind. I was struggling to keep up with the materials in my classes. It’s not that I didn’t understand it. It wasn’t a matter of disinterest or apathy on my part either. I had started to manifest a form of genetic tremors that cause my hands to shake. I can still clearly remember the way my grandfather suffered from the same issue, and as I started to develop symptoms, it required great effort to write coherently due to the sudden change in my muscle control. I literally could not keep up with notetaking in my classes. With so many other students to care for and so much material to go through, my appeals to teachers to slow down fell on deaf ears. I was frustrated. I knew I would get better with practice, but what could I do in the meantime? I realized that if I couldn’t take notes fast enough, then I needed to change the way I took notes. It never occurred to me that there were notetaking systems and forms of shorthand developed for the issue of too much information with too little time to get it on paper. I developed a note system that worked for me.

As I went through high school, I refined my notetaking system until I found a formula that struck a balance between organized chaos and mnemonic devices. It was still a struggle, but I was managing. The frustration at my own inability was poignant for a teenager, given my predilection for emotional angst – shared by many, I’m sure. Years later, I have had the fortune of looking back at that particular struggle and seeing how it refined and strengthened me for later challenges including college and the workplace. I obviously still have tremors, but my perspective on their presence in my life has softened with time and the value of experience. They are still a challenge at times – I’ve broken more than one dish when my fingers decided to tremble at the wrong moment in the kitchen. However, I am thankful for the lessons I have learned from these experiences that I might not have been able to learn in any other way. It is said that wisdom is the ability to apply knowledge correctly when making choices. It is also said that wisdom comes with experience, though I would add that experience does not guarantee a person will make better choices.

My point in all of this is that even in the midst of trials, struggles, and uncertainty, the experiences we gain are never wasted. They are opportunities for us to reflect and become better versions of ourselves. This isn’t easy, and there are often mental obstacles to overcome in the process. Here’s where the library comes into the picture. You cannot experience everything in a lifetime. The world and the mind are full of nearly endless wonders for us to discover. If you’ve hit a roadblock in your own progress, try out the power of a book. Autobiographies can literally let you see the world through someone else’s experiences. Fiction can let you observe situations, relationships, and circumstances that you have never encountered or maybe are all too familiar. Reading a book grants you access to the experiences of others whether from a character or the author, and the library is your gateway to – as Archimedes the owl in “The Sword in the Stone” puts it: “a mountain of knowledge.” From all of us at the library, we express our gratitude for both being able to serve our community and your wonderful support. Happy Thanksgiving!

The library closes early on Wednesday, November 26 at 5 p.m. and is closed on Thursday, November 27 and Friday, November 28 for the Thanksgiving holiday.

The library is located at 17 N. Broadway and is normally open to the public Monday-Thursday 9:30 a.m.-8 p.m. and Friday-Saturday 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m.