I have one of those lives where there’s always something: health concerns, mental concerns, family concerns, work concerns. I was once asked, “How are you not curled up into a ball?” Well, sometimes I am! Sometimes I get so overwhelmed by life, I just curl up into a ball and cry but, then it passes – as storms often do. This blog is called Lessons from the Storm because sometimes it seems like life is a never-ending storm and we have to learn to get through – and dare I say, find joy – in the storm.
What’s your life like? Are you cruising along with just the occasional bump in the road? Or are you in the back hills? Off-roading over roads that barely seem to have earned the word “road”. Either way, what keeps you going? How do you keep from curling into a ball? When I was asked that question I could give an answer right away, “I have God”. I can’t imagine not having that answer but I know some of you reading this can’t understand that as an answer.
What’s your source? How do you get through the day? Friends? Family? Drugs? God? People use a lot of different means to make it through their storms. I have to ask, though, is it working? Are you making it through the storm or are you making it worse? Is your source a source of strength and rejuvenation or simply another weight, another storm in disguise.
If you don’t have a source of strength or your source isn’t working, keep looking. Find a source that you can turn to in the midst of the storm to give you strength and give you hope. I just came out of a long bout of depression. The pain and the feeling that it would never end consumed me but I held on and the depression eased. My storm has not ended. Family and health concerns continue to battle; the storm rages on and yet, today, I can feel the sun. Maybe it’s just a memory. Maybe it’s an illusion but I’m going to enjoy the sun.
I am fortunate. I have my source. I’ve tapped into the energy that’s outside of myself and stronger than myself. My daughter has over 2 years in recovery. Those in recovery are encouraged to find their higher power, to find their source. We can learn from those whose storms are addiction. What they have to overcome, what they have to give up, is so strong it has to not just be taken away but also replaced. I encourage you to find your source, just make sure it energizes you, encourages you and supports you. Don’t let your source be a source of pain but a source of joy. Find your source in the midst of the storm and you’ll find your joy, too.