Living with Storms

As I sit here writing this blog post, Tropical Storm/Hurricane Eta is making its appearance in South Florida.  While I generally don’t like when storms hit, this is the type of storm I do not mind.  Sure, there is rain and wind, but this isn’t the kind of storm that would cause any significant damage or power outages.  I have been through those and they are not fun.  This is the perfect storm to stay inside and read a book or stream a television series.   

This storm has me thinking and asking, why do we have storms in our lives and are storms bad?  Last year when I cut a trip overseas short to come home and prepare for Hurricane Dorian, I was speaking with a friend who said to me, “storms come into our lives to clear everything out and create a path for something better.”   

I truly believe what my friend told me and it comforted me as I prepared for the storm.  A prime example of my friend’s advice is Hurricane Andrew.  In 1992, Hurricane Andrew hit and absolutely devastated South Miami.  I remember that night and the aftermath so well even though I was only a child and we lived about an hour north of where the center of the storm hit.   

In the months and years following Andrew, all of South Florida had an enormous building and financial boom.  New cities were created.  Building codes were strengthened.  South Florida became a huge population center.  Hurricane Andrew cleared everything out and created a path for something better.

We all have stormy periods in our lives, but we get through them.  We find resilience and we move forward.  We learn lessons from the stormy periods and we acquire tools to equip us for the next storm.   

No, I don’t think that storms are bad.  I think storms allow us to reflect on where our lives are and how we want to make changes.  If life was smooth-sailing, we would never make changes and grow.  The greatest teacher for growth is a difficult situation, a storm.   

Three months after I purchased my home, a terrible hurricane hit.  I was flying high due to my purchase, and that hurricane stopped me dead in my tracks.  I had roof damage and significant damage to my car.  I had to deal with insurance companies and homeowners associations which were new experiences for me. Before the storm, I went shopping an ordered new furniture.  All of it arrived before the hurricane except the couch for the living room.  It took months for the couch to arrive and I sat on an uncomfortable, hand-me-down chair that my Aunt gave me to watch TV.  Several months later, the couch arrived, the roof was fixed, and my home came together.   

While I was going through that experience it seemed like the worst thing ever, but the experience taught me many lessons and cleared a path to make me a better person.  I now have a hurricane preparedness protocol.  I now know how to deal with insurance companies and homeowners associations. 

So, as I sit here listening to the wind and the rain outside my home, I have hope that this storm will clear out the negative and create a path for something better.  I’m not sure what the better is, but I’ll be here waiting patiently.

Mother Nature provides us with a rainbow after the storm.  The rainbow is a sign that the storm has ended and the path for something better is just beginning.   

My advice to you is when you are going through the storms in your life, look for the rainbows.  They will tell you that the storm is over and then you can begin to reflect on the storm and learn the lessons.

I promise you that the sun will shine again.  But we have to weather the storms in order to grow and growth is a very positive thing. 

 Eta will be gone soon. The rainbow will appear and the sun will shine again. 

Good days are ahead.  Stay positive.