The Perfect Storm
“Sometimes surrendering is anything but giving up. Surrender to the flow.”
One day last week in the early morning hours I awoke to send my daughter off to the airport. My husband had graciously agreed to take her and we were all up at the ungodly hour to get her out the door by 4am. Being an early riser, this was even a bit much for me.
As I dragged myself out of bed, my brain started clicking along at a very fast pace wondering how in the world I was going to get all that was on my plate done in the day ahead. Suddenly, I was grateful that I had a two-hour jump on the day.
Then as I looked out the window I saw the first of some really huge snowflakes falling from the early morning night sky. Thinking it was no big deal, I waved my husband and daughter goodbye and decided to begin the motions to move forward into my day.
By 6am, it was crystal clear that these weren’t just a few random snowflakes. It was evident that we were heading into a full on blizzard. This was something that hadn’t even been on my mind with the beautiful 70-degree day we had just had the day before.
What was interesting was that with a number of writing deadlines that were part of my day, this was in fact the perfect storm because all my normal distractions were about be to be removed. Sure enough, one by one my connections with the outside world began to disappear as the power to the house eventually went out. No phones, no internet, and no distractions.
I couldn’t make the break to Facebook or email. It was just me, my pooch, the roaring fire, and my fully charged computer waiting for me to write.
While I was able to work with a couple of clients over my cell phone, as it turned out I actually had a hard time getting into the flow of work and began to quickly realize just how over-dependent I have become on my distractions to fuel me throughout the day.
With all bad habits, first you have to realize and acknowledge they exist before you can begin do anything about it. Sometimes surrendering doesn’t mean giving up. It actually means being realistic and giving in to finding realistic solutions.
This blizzard had shown me that my issue with “not having enough time” in the months prior had been due to my technology fuelled distractions - from social media notifications, to emails coming in, to calling back people who left a voicemail on the office line. I wasn’t truly aware of how dependent my work day was on these distractions until the force of mother nature had taken them away. I couldn’t depend on my subconscious reactions to the distractions, and the most important things found their way to my attention.
After I had been writing for a couple of hours it was interesting how at one point in the afternoon when I finally needed a break I actually took the time to read a book in the middle of the day and then take a nap. Yes… I said it… a nap!
What was even more awesome was that how peaceful the nap was. I was content that I had actually been on track all day and what got done was actually a huge chunk of what needed to be done! It was the perfect storm in so many ways.
What about you? Think about an experience you have had in the past where a huge event has brought things temporarily into chaos, only for you to realize that it was a blessing in disguise. Please share your experience in the comments below.
To Your Successes and Victories,
- Cheri
Cheri Ruskus
Author, Business Growth Coach,
and Founder of the Victory Circles
www.VictoryCircles.com
