The sky looked threatening so I suggested we skip the walk and stay inside. My husband challenged me and said something along the lines of, “What are you afraid of — getting wet?”
Truth is, I don’t like to go out when it rains. Yeah, I said it. I absolutely find the raindrops much more attractive from my window. As he was challenging me, I stood there and realized that was the only thing that was stopping me. Without further delay, we were on our way.
Sure enough, about halfway into our fitness the sky opened and it began to rain — torrential rain. My first thought was, “Why did I wear a white tank top tonight?” With nature out of my control, I surrendered to the fact that this was going to be my first wet white tank walk, I was smitten with the moment.
That night in the rain got me thinking…
How often do we hide under an umbrella to avoid the storms in life? Literally and metaphorically. How often does the umbrella prevent us from learning all that the rain is supposed to teach us? How has our preparation prevented us from experiencing lessons that one can only learn by being in the moment, and in this case, the storm?
When any kind of rainfall happens in our lives, we naturally want to avoid and resist it. It’s uncomfortable. We think if we just ignore it, it will go away.
This thought is typically the catalyst to the classic reaction, “I don’t give a fuck.” Now I don’t know about you, but in retrospect, anything that made me react that way meant I definitely gave one if not five. Time and time again we say we don’t give one, however, we just end up getting stuck underneath this five fuck umbrella.
And, we think we are gaining instant gratification. We look tough, but we’re getting absolutely nowhere.
As long as we react and resist, we’ll never figure out why we actually gave one in the first place.
Our feelings are the snapshots that capture the nuances of our soul. They create a collage of all that moves us. The more shots captured the better — you have to notice it in order to understand it.
The only way to become resilient in this life is through practicing standing in whatever it is for as long as it takes to figure out what we need to learn from it.
You have to understand it in order to let it go.
If we get into the habit of being mindful, over time we develop these skills and unease passes faster.
So the next time a storm comes –
Screw the umbrella, stand in the rain.
You don’t have to dance in it, just humbly stand in it.
Originally published at medium.com