This is Day 68 of the Positive 100, a countdown to Rare Disease Day 2014 and an exercise in being positive despite it all.

People use all sorts of metaphors to describe hard times. We talk about battles. We talk about getting through to the other side. And even things being sunshine and daisies. Let’s throw storms into that mix of metaphors, without making a trite statement about the turbulent patches we all go through.

When I first started this project, one of the posters I did said, “Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass, it’s about learning to dance in the rain.”

That’s been one of the hardest lessons to learn, and I am certain that it is one that I will have to keep relearning as I go through life. The days that things get dark and stormy, it is an easy one to forget.

But I need to remember it. There is no way to survive the storms if you don’t learn how to dance in the rain. The pain is going to be there, I am going to weather other storms, but there is always something to be happy about. Maybe it is doing my best work, or maybe it is finding the way to laugh. Or even just enjoying time with a friend.

I am going through one now – with the record breaking cold in Chicago triggering a CRPS flare and spread. I have scheduled a series of nerve blocks and they are going to keep me working and living life. The relief will make me able to write. To design. To bake. And until there is some relief, I can keep writing. Designing. Baking. I can hold tight to my new normal so that I can weather this storm too.

This storm will pass, but for now, I’ll dance in the rain.

How do you weather the storm?  Share your answer on social media with the hashtag #100positive days on Twitter, Instagram and Google+. 

Also, you can sign up to be emailed a recap each week of the challenge.