No Rain No Rainbows

Over the past week, I took myself on a little journey across the South. I decided to start in Mississippi and travel down to the Florida coast and then back through New Orleans making a loop home. When I arrived at the coast I immediately encountered a series of thunderstorms. It definitely was a challenge for me to photograph and spend time at the beach due to intermittent raining and required an immense amount of flexibility in my day. I am a planner but you can’t always plan everything. Life is dynamic. In fact, some would say that life is constantly changing and nothing remains the same. I’ve found the thunderstorms bring the prettiest sunsets and rainbows. I think that’s true for life, too. There’s no such thing as only experiencing “good.” You have to have the lows for growth and to appreciate the highs. Without rain there is no rainbow.

The past few months I’ve experienced an unusual amount of stress. It began a quiet Sunday. I was walking out of my massage therapy appointment when I received a message from my ex saying that our daughter was in an ambulance and on her way to the Emergency Room. There have only been a few times in my life where this happened but time literally slowed down. I felt calm at the time as I gathered my things and prepared to go to Houston to meet them at the hospital. I stayed unusually calm but when it was all over and I had to go back into my daily rhythm I experienced a bit of an aftershock. I felt tired every day and stress headaches returned. My massage therapist when on vacation for a month and then I had a ton of unexpected changes at work. My soul felt tired, uninspired, and overflowing with stress.

That’s when I realized it was time to getaway. I planned a trip to Florida and decided to go. Taking myself out of my daily environment helped so much. Looking back I don’t think I would have scheduled this trip had it not been for the stress I was experiencing. I would have kept going uninspired and my life needed this. During the trip, I came to realize more about who I am as a person walking this Earth. Everything is temporary and for me to continue being a healthy human being I just have to incorporate more downtime in my life. In many ways, my normal is operating at 100 mph. When I’ve experienced too much I come to a complete halt and crash. That’s no way to live. I can make small changes to my day by incorporating happy activities that clear my mind.

My goal over the next six months and the remainder of this year is to feel abundant joy and peace. At the beginning of 2021, I chose the word abundant as my word of the year. This year has brought so much abundance in opportunity around work, inner growth, financial freedom, and more but I have lacked experiencing abundant joy and peace. There is no better time than now to shift my focus on bringing these virtues forth in my life. As I wrap up today’s post I challenge you to think about your own life – what do you need to call forth and focus on for the rest of this year? What rainbows are you seeking after the thunderstorms in life hit? You have the power to be, do and have anything in life.