You know that old adage, "everything happens for a reason"?
Well I passionately believe it.
The thing is, that reason often doesn't become clear for years.
Sometimes the delay is because you are caught in a sea of pain.
So distraught at what is happening around you, you can't see what it's telling you.
Sometimes the delay is simply because clarity takes time to emerge.
That the effect of what occurred needed time before change became clear.
And while it is hard to see the positives in bad things that happen … sometimes, as the quote above states, it clears the way to reaching somewhere new.
That somewhere new could be a range of things.
From having the ability to literally go to a new physical place, to being able go to an abundance of new places in your mind.
It’s happened to me many times.
Where years after a storm, I saw clarity and everything became clear.
From what led to the storm to where I am because of it.
Life is often run at a frenetic pace.
Where our goal is speed rather than substance.
And that’s why storms are so important.
We might not like it at the time. We might feel the consequences of it for years. We might not understand it for decades.
But the storm slows us down.
It makes us think and re-evaluate.
Question what we're doing and who we are.
What we're working towards and where we're going.
I have faced quite a few storms in my life.
Not as many or as harsh as many people have had to endure, and some have been entirely of my own making … but one by one, they have all cleared a path for me, even if it has taken me years to realise that sometimes.
I appreciate some may say the clarity we eventually get is post rationalised. That we ‘invent it’ to feel better about it.
Maybe that’s true.
But what I know is that while life might not go in a straight line, it generally moves forward.
We might not like the speed.
We might not like the direction.
But we can generally deal with what’s thrown at us. Eventually.
And that’s one of the nice things about getting older. You get more comfortable with storms.
It doesn’t mean they don’t mess you up, but you know they rarely will kill you and you will eventually end up far from it.
Obviously we all went through a terrible time with COVID last year.
It whipped up one of the cruelest seas we’ve ever seen.
Many will face the effects of this storm for years to come … and while I am not in any way trying to dismiss the pain or suffering people expeienced – and continue to experience – I hope in time they see it has silently led them to a different place..
Because not all storms are here to disrupt your life, some come to clear your path.
That’s for you A.
Rx