At times, it seemed as if the rain would never stop in April, but it wasn’t the weather that made the world feel grey, it was the storm of complaints and anxiety surrounding me at work and home. Everyone seemed determined to focus on what was going wrong, and I was drowning in the static.
During the past month, I learned a hard truth which likely applies to everyone, someone else’s perspective cannot be changed but, as far as I’m concerned, I can rigorously protect my own. A recent break at work had me a captive audience to a coworker who was venting about everything they were fearing in the future and I felt that familiar tightness in my chest. The old me always used to chime in, thinking that participating in the misery at hand was somehow a form of empathy but, this time, I decided to do something different.
I remembered a piece of advice I read earlier that month which involved visualizing a personal “bubble” that would protect my energy. So, I continued to sit there and listen politely, but I mentally stepped away and imagined that the complaints I heard were water droplets hitting an invisible barrier, each one sliding off without affecting my inner core. Was it ever liberating! Later that day, I found a quieter space and took action, choosing to engage in something creative, like brainstorming a solution rather than focusing on the obstacle.
As I walked out into the April rain on the last day of the month, I didn’t care about the gloom. My spirit felt renewed and it was cathartic. I realized that just like the flowers blooming in the cold, I have the strength to thrive in my own sunshine, no matter what is going on around me; I can fill my own life with light and find rainbows in the rain.
From the Writer’s Workshop: Write a post in exactly twelve (12) sentences. Something you learned in April. What do you do when you’re around too much negativity?
