Today was a non-office day and I was fortunate enough to have some downtime and an appointment with my acupuncturist. Rather than the usual dash of trying to cross London in the shortest possible time on every form of public transport available, I had allowed some extra time to walk and take half an hour for myself to clear my head.
As I stepped outside, it had started raining lightly. I was hopeful it might be a passing sun shower so decided to set off walking anyway. The ‘passing shower’ soon turned into a heavy downpour, however I had my jacket and umbrella so decided to stick to my original plan and keep walking.
I came to realise a couple of interesting things during my walk in the rain. One of my favourite relaxing sounds is being in bed, warm and cosy, listening to the rain outside. Usually – I would avoid being outside in the rain and opt for transportation to reach my destination instead. Yet I hadn’t realised what I had been missing out on. As I walked along underneath my umbrella – I realised I could still enjoy that same, soothing sound and feel an incredible sense of calm.
What was the difference this time? Well, I wasn’t caught out but was prepared for the possibility of rain, and I had a large enough umbrella to cover me completely. So rather than worrying about getting wet, I could still enjoy being outside and felt surprisingly tranquil and relaxed by the time I reached my appointment.
It made me realise that to get the most out of them - we need to expect the rainstorms in our lives. They will come; it’s just a matter of when. To help us get through them and still reach our destination as calmly as possible though, we need to prepare as best we can and ensure we’ve got suitable ‘cover’ to protect ourselves. Depending on the situation - that could be having a B plan in place, someone to delegate to, or ensuring we have the right level of support around us – personal and professional.
Even if the rain starts falling a little harder, we don’t necessarily need to change our original plans or direction completely if we’ve got adequate support in place and if we are flexible enough to adjust to changing circumstances. Sure, we might arrive at our destination a little later than planned and possibly with ‘wet feet’ but hopefully we’ve learnt something more about ourselves from the journey. And maybe, we’ll discover that sometimes, walking in the rain isn’t that bad after all.
