“Life isn’t about waiting for the storms to pass. It’s about dancing in the rain.”*
My favorite expression of all times. I use it as my signature on my emails and as a silent chant in my head when things seem to be rough. Everyone’s journey is from time to time fraught with challenges which may seem to rock your very being. As we get older, we only hope that it becomes easier to manage our expectations and our reactions to those situations which give rise to the challenges.
It is easy to feel overwhelmed and consumed by a difficult time that is facing you. Whether it is a serious illness, the loss of a loved one or a friend, a serious argument with or disappointment in a loved one or a friend, the loss of a job, uncertainty about the future, it can all be difficult to handle and make us question how to move forward on our own journey. When we feel alone and confused, it is easy to start with the negative and get bogged down so that we can no longer move forward. What we should do is start with the positives – even the smallest things that we take for granted each day – and then with gratitude in mind for what we do have, we can better face the challenge in front of us.
This is a good time of year to step back and take a look at our lives and how we handle adversity. Do we truly turn lemons into lemonade or dance in the rain? Do you stand in the rain until your clothes, hair, and spirit feel heavy like a weight that adds to the burden you are carrying? In Spring and Summer, we shed the layers that cover us in the winter whether it be literally in terms of dressing for the cold weather or figuratively in coming out of the short dark days into the bright sunshine of summer where we can feel lighter and caressed by the sunlight and renewed energy around us. With that to move us forward and continue our journey.
*Vivian Greene.