Today I woke to the sound of thunder and rain. Remember when you were a kid and the boom of thunder would frighten you? Now, that sound comforts me. It reminds me of evenings sitting on my parents’ covered front porch, watching the night sky illuminate with flashes of light. Both my mom and dad enjoyed watching the storms. Inevitably, they’d end up sharing stories from their childhood with me and my siblings.
This morning, as I sit on my front porch, I hear the gentle rain as it falls. The insects are chirping surprisingly loud for it to be raining, and the rumble of thunder fills my ears from time to time. Flashes of light scatter across the sky, and just as quickly as they begin, they end. The rest of my family is still sleeping.
Looking out into the darkness, I inhale the air. It’s warm, and it reminds me that the earth is alive. I am surrounded by life.
As I take another breath, my mind begins to wander back to when I was afraid of thunderstorms. What scared me most then was not knowing when the next crash would come. The uncertainty is what scared me. The unpredictability is what caused me to fear. But through time, sitting on my parents’ porch and weathering the storm together, I learned that I will get through the storm and that the storm will not always last.
I found comfort in the unpredictability and realized I could rely on the knowledge I already had. This storm is just that—temporary. But if I take the time to sit, listen, and watch, I can see that it’s quite beautiful and even peaceful.
You can find peace when life gets hard. You can find peace despite the storm around you. It’s found within you.
Today, as I write this, I asked myself, “What storm scares you right now?” What are you hiding from, hoping it passes quickly?
The older I’ve gotten, the more I want time to slow down. The more I want to remain in the present. And I’m finding this sentiment to be true even when it comes to the difficult stuff.
It’s funny how life and experiences change you. What was once a scary thing is no longer so. Through experiencing more of what frightened me, the less afraid of it I became. Can you see a parallel here in your own life? I can.
Today, I carry with me worries related to the people around me. I want to love, protect, and support others. But I have to remind myself that we are all on our own journeys, and sometimes the only thing you can do is sit with someone while they go through the storm.
My mother and father sat with me on that porch, watching the storm. They weren’t scared, but I was. By watching their reaction and sitting beside them, they provided comfort. They demonstrated that everything was going to be okay.
This is what I want to do today.
Some of the storms I see others going through are indeed scary and unpredictable, and the outcome is still uncertain. But just because something is scary or hard does not mean it’s not going to be okay. It doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing or something we should wish away.
As I’ve learned, storms are a part of life, and they will end. I promise.
My job, then, is to sit beside them, letting them know it’s okay to feel what they are feeling. I will weather this storm with them. I’ll sit side by side, and we will get through this time together.
It’s not easy, but you can find beauty in the midst of the darkness. The flash of lightning, although seeming ominous, is beautiful in its own way.
We can remain peaceful and calm during the storm, and we do this by reminding ourselves of our history. Remembering what we’ve already experienced and knowing that although this time is different, there’s nothing we can’t get through.
We have everything we need right inside of us.
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