Is that water falling from the sky?

We’ve had a pretty good monsoon season this year and, on this second day of Autumn, there’s more liquid falling from those grey puffy things floating in the sky. I even heard a few claps of thunder. I love a good thunder and lightning storm and could watch it for hours.

Of course, these heavy rains - particularly those that occur during normal business hours - bring all kinds of challenges which are easily understood simply by standing near a window or door and listening to people marvel and complain about the impact this is going to have on their immediate reality. If you’re at the office without an umbrella and parked at the far end of the parking lot, just getting to or from your car means sloshing through kiddy pool-sized puddles. The streets are probably flooded in some areas (usually the ones you have to travel through). Yards are flooded. Pools are dangerously close to overflowing. Traffic is the thing of nightmares (more so than normal). And, in the time it takes to get from home to work or vice versa, you could have built an arc and collected two of every animal.

For some, these issues are less concerning than the storm itself. Some people are terrified by these storms; the loud, booming sounds of thunder or the flashes and streaking bolts of lightning. Whether you’re afraid of the storm itself, nervous about traveling through it or concerned about what you’ll find at your destination, these storms still cause a fair amount of anxiety for people.

As professionals, we experience changes in the metaphorical weather every day. Fortunately, they don’t require we jaunt about the office in yellow, plastic rain gear (at least not indoors). Storms blow in unexpectedly. Some last only a few minutes while others may carry on for days or weeks or longer (like a pandemic, for example). Some of these storms are unfathomable downpours; dumping a deluge of nasty all over you.

No matter type of storm that comes through, as professionals, we don’t always get to run for cover, hide where we feel most comfortable and watch from the windows until it passes. We have to roll up our sleeves (or pants) and step out into the torrent before it becomes an unmanageable flood. Don’t be afraid of the storm - even if it brings situations that make you uncomfortable. Embrace the opportunity.

“I am not afraid of storms for I am learning how to sail my ship” - Louisa May Alcott