After the Storm

Last night, there was a big storm.  The storm was so loud that it kept me up for quite a while.  Apparently, I didn’t hear the tornado siren though. 

That’s ok, living close to the foothills, I don’t have the same fear or tornadoes as when I lived in Illinois or Oklahoma.

We don’t get many big storms here.  The last bad one was a few years ago.  We ended up getting a new roof out of that one.  To me, the most devastating part was seeing the destruction of my thriving garden.

It never did recover after that storm.  Fortunately, last night’s storm looked a little different.

As I go through each day, song lyrics or movie quotes often pop into my head.  It’s a mess in there, folks.  Let’s not dig any deeper than that. 

This morning, I thought of the Mumford and Sons’ song, “After the Storm.”  This lyric in particular:

“And there will come a time,
you'll see, with no more tears.
And love will not break your heart,
but dismiss your fears.
Get over your hill and see
what you find there,
With grace in your heart
and flowers in your hair.”

I have referenced a couple times that I was previously living in “survival mode.”  That translates into living day to day, just getting through it.  I couldn’t see the end.  People told me it was there.  I believed them…kind of.

It is amazing what music can do.  It can touch your heart.  When I heard this song, and really paid attention to the above words, it started to click.  I would like to say that hearing this song changed my whole life.  That would be a warm and fuzzy moment.

I still had some changing to do on my own.  When you are in survival mode, your view of the world is closed in.  You can’t see beyond to the next day.  There is fear.  What if things never change?  That was my biggest fear.  I had to let that go.

I started to…slowly.  I don’t know if the fear ever went away, but I started to actually live (not just survive) in spite of the fear.  It stayed in the back of my mind, rolling around with all of the movie quotes and song lyrics and other junk.

This song, those words in particular, was also something that I let roll around in my head.  Along with words of encouragement from family and friends.  They were pieces of a larger picture inspiring me to be something different.  Inspiring me to change.  Inspiring me to move beyond surviving and live.

It can take many pieces to inspire hope in others.  In my professional life, I hope that maybe something I say will roll around in a client’s head and will take root.

I intentionally encourage my clients, but what in about in my personal life?  The compassion I have at work doesn’t leave at the end of the day. 

How do I encourage my family and friends?  These are the people that I care about the most. 

I hope that I encourage those around me.  I hope that I speak kind words that will roll around in their heads.  I hope that I help them understand that there is an “after” to the storm.