“I Wasn’t Expecting to See That” - #Blog365 Day 83

I woke up on Sunday morning to my oldest daughter saying to me, “Look, look! It snowed last night!” So, I looked outside, and there it was. Truly something we weren’t yet expecting to see.

The ground was covered with about two inches of snow. It was pretty amazing, actually, because the day before had been unseasonably warm. The sun was shining, and it felt more like spring than the end of autumn.

And within twenty-four hours, things had changed. When I went outside to get the paper, I was shivering; the temperature outside had dropped so quickly.

It wasn’t really a day to play outside, either. The temperature was low, the wind was kicking up, and the snow was the heavy wet kind, the kind that knocks you out if you get hit with a snowball. So, there were no snowball fights going on that day.

Instead, we mostly stayed inside and began to come to grips with winter’s impending arrival. Usually, one day each year serves as the welcome mat for winter. It was this past Sunday for sure.

While I knew it was coming, it was still unexpected. Much of life can be that way. We know that some things will happen at some point, but that doesn’t make it any easier for us to deal with them when they arrive.

That made me think quite a bit about the benefit of planning, and being as prepared (as possible, anyway) for all that life might throw our way. In our professional and personal lives, we need to proactively address the elephants in the room, and do our best to make sure that when they do show themselves we’re ready to deal with them.

As I went out to do some grocery shopping today, I had to step lightly, and drive even more carefully. While it seemed a bit warm for black ice, I wanted to be sure I was paying attention to that potential danger.

So too in our work lives. We know that while we want much of our experiences to be positive, they can’t always be. And when tides turn, we must make sure we’re ready.