by Caroline Powell
As we enter the Halloween season, and stores are filled with spooky decorations and sweet treats, I’m reminded of those Sour Patch Kid commercials with their familiar tagline “first they’re sour, then they’re sweet.”
In the commercials, a Sour Patch Kid often does something that initially seems like a bad prank or some unpleasant experience, only for it to turn into something that’s much more playful and helpful. The perspective shifts. What initially looks like a terrible moment turns into something unexpected, even fun!
It makes me think about how we frame difficult moments, too. When a learner is having a big emotional moment, it can be easy to see only what’s happening right in front of us, in that moment: the frustration, tears, disappointment, or just a feeling that everything has gone a little sideways. Those moments can be hard, but they can also be an important opportunity for a learner to better understand themselves, discover what they need, and develop skills that will help them beyond that particular difficult moment. Sometimes, it’s right in the middle of the sour moments where the most meaningful learning takes place.
The idea that feelings can change in an instant, from sour quickly to sweet, is something that doesn’t just happen to those well-loved gammy candies, but is something that we all experience, both adults and learners.
A moment of frustration can give way to relief, nervousness becomes excitement (or “Nerv-ited,” as some learners say!), disappointment can become joy. Sometimes, sweetness turns sour, too. And that’s okay! Life isn’t always sweet. We all have moments that feel frustrating, overwhelming, or just plain hard.
Emotions can feel a bit like Halloween itself: full of surprises. Sometimes we don’t know if we are getting a trick or a treat, or what really happens in between the sour and sweet. But what if the goal wasn’t to avoid the sour moments altogether? What if some of the most important growth happens right in the middle of them?
This session in Health and Wellness, we are working with learners to recognize what we are feeling, understanding where those emotions come from, and finding ways to respond that work for us.
Health and Wellness is a space where learners have time to learn about themselves. Emotional literacy is an important form of this self-knowledge. The more we understand our emotions, the better equipped we become to understand our needs, navigate challenges, and make intentional choices about how to respond.
So, the Sour Patch Kids tagline might make you think that the sour part is just something to get through before we reach the sweet. And sometimes, that’s how we feel about our emotions too. We want the tears to stop, the frustration to pass, and difficult moments to be over. But life and our emotions don’t follow the neat, predictable storyline of a candy commercial. A frustrating or disappointing experience doesn't magically become fun, and we don't need to put a positive spin on every hard moment. But even when something feels difficult, there can be opportunities to learn something about ourselves.
The goal is not to only have sweet days or avoid the big, messy feelings that come with being human and growing. It’s to build the awareness and skills to navigate all of them. The real sweetness lies there, underneath all the sour coating. It’s what we gain in moving and living through them, and in learning to understand ourselves a little better, discovering what we are capable of, and developing the tools for what comes next. Sometimes, the sweetest growth happens in the moments that don’t feel sweet at all.
