They say bad news comes in threes, but they never tell you how much good news you’re ever going to get.

Recently, I had my fair share of bad news. It seemed like every day I was getting hit with news worse than the last. It got to a point where something as trivial as running out of coffee the Sunday before a work week or finding the toilet seat left up would set me on edge. I felt like I was being set up only to fail.

One hard knock after another, pushed me further and further down, ensuring I might never get back up.

When my mother was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in late May, sending my grandmother on an emergency trip to retrieve her from Tennessee, my life was flipped upside down.

But, I didn’t let it show. My family would say it was that “McLain in me,” but I knew it was a survival instinct of “sink or swim” my mom had instilled in me at an early age.

How could I crumble and shatter when my own mother was standing strong? I put up a front and went on day to day only acknowledging the issue if someone else did. Eventually, the façade I had put up did more damage than good.

I learned that keeping things in only made for a bigger explosion when things came erupting through the surface.

The weekend before my birthday, I saw just how much damage I had really done to myself by not letting things out and leaning on those who had been there for me since day one.

I had become so focused on internalizing the negatives in my life, not wanting to bring others down, that I had created my own dark cloud that followed me daily.

I was waiting for the fallout, when there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.

But, the tears fell and so did my walls, and soon I began to realize that the sun was shining and God was smiling on me still.

Little by little, I stopped noticing the bad and instead focused on even the smallest of blessings, attempting to see the good in every little thing.

Doctor visit after doctor visit, my mom started getting more encouraging news than the last, even having the doctor go so far as saying she could, once again, drive.

Things were looking up, and so was I.

Despite the heat, the humidity and potential sunburns, I turned toward the sun, focusing on the good and not the bad.

The Carter Family probably said it best when they said to keep on the sunny side because “it will brighten all the way.”

The bad days will still be there, but with the bad comes the good. You just have to look for it every day in every way.