Before the Storm

We are going to get hit by yet another storm. It’s funny when it happens for the first time - you are as excited as you are scared in the face of the upcoming ordeal. The second time you are slightly annoyed but try to keep your plans moving along, the third time you are really pissed off and don’t even bother with the routine, or the plans, or your responsibilities – you are just waiting it out. It is a big deal, and the central topic of any conversation, so following other people’s steps you make a public announcement that this weather makes you utterly depressed and unhappy. And now, as you think that your resilience has been depleted and the remains of your patience have expired, it happens again, the new storm is approaching with the potential to become the most severe of all. And you get serious - no more a cry-baby: you suck it up and keep moving about your life, focusing on things that matter.

How many hardships does life have to dump on us so that we stopped hiding our head under the wing, crawled out of the mental hideout to deal with life even as it’s not all roses? The first blow makes us panic, the second activates the defense system, the third makes us fight back with unexpected courage and boldness. Rough treatment, one gruesome trial after another will retrieve the inner warrior that can shield our sensitive side and add thorns to the thin skin. We will see then that there are no limits to our internal resources: we can withstand any storm, recover after harsh winds beat us down. The strength we are able to extract from the shrunken heart in severe circumstances is staggering.

So don’t be fooled by my initial whining, I was just assessing the challenge and winning some time. But now that the stakes have been raised, and another destructive storm has formed, it’s time to summon my wild self, to wake up my inner warrior that will protect me from hostile weather and get me safely to the sunny spot.