When You Can’t See What’s Ahead

A couple of years ago, I was driving with my family on our first-ever March Break trip to Disneyworld.  The excitement in the vehicle as we drove on that first night — a 4 hour stretch, just to say we were on our way — was palpable.  My husband was the only one of us who had ever been to Disneyworld, and even he was tingling with the anticipation of reliving the magic with all of us.

That first night we stopped at a hotel, enjoyed a relaxing evening complete with popcorn and a bit of TV before going to bed.  When we awoke the next morning, we were in the midst of a major (and I mean MAJOR) snowstorm.  Now, for us, being from Canada and specifically southwestern ontario, snowstorms aren’t necessarily a huge deal, so we just ate our breakfast, climbed in the van and headed on our way.  Well, we weren’t on the road for more than 30 minutes before we were all feeling more than a little nervous, and that’s putting it mildly.  There was a ton (more or less) of snow on the roads, plows hadn’t been by in who knows how long, and every few meters there was another vehicle in the ditch.  The windshield wipers were freezing and becoming so snow-covered that there was no way of knowing what was ahead.  The only thing we could see was what was right in front of us — and the screen of our GPS.  And the only thing we knew for sure, was that at some point, if we kept driving, we would be out of the storm.  So, white-knuckled, my husband kept his hands on the wheel, his foot on the brake, and his eyes on both the road and the GPS.  By doing this and staying calm,he  managed to get us safely through the storm and onto clear roads (granted it was a good 2 1/2 hours later till we were on clear roads, but clear they were).  My job in all of this was to ensure that the children stayed calm and occupied — so out came my bag of activities, the in-car movies, and my own calm-factor (albeit with perspiration on my forehead).

Why am I telling you all of this?  Well, this morning it occurred to me that life can, at times, feel exactly like that drive to Disneyworld.  There are times where the storm clouds of life come in and you cannot see what lies ahead, no matter how hard you try. All you know for sure is that if you keep moving forward, the clouds will clear and all will be fine in the end.  In those circumstances, the key really is to stay grounded in the here and now, taking one step at a time, and re-adjusting as necessary.  Granted, this can be challenging in the heat of the moment.  You may well want to “take the nearest exit” as it were, crawl back into bed and try to out-wait the storm.  What I know for sure, however, is that in most cases, simply standing in the knowledge that the storm will pass, and taking whatever small steps you can to move forward in the meantime, is actually more productive.

Bottom-line:  anyway you look at it, keeping your focus in the present is the option that serves best.  Always.  And especially when life feels cloudy.