Dire Predictions!

 

I apologize for being late with this week’s message, but I got distracted by all the hype about the huge nor’easter that’s supposed to hit today.  Every news – no, make that every communication – channel is broadcasting dire predictions and warnings about what they say is going to be the worst storm since…….; and like everyone else around here, I am in the grip of this hysteria.

They’re calling the storm Nemo, and predicting it will cause blinding blizzard conditions, massive snow falls, snarled traffic, grounded airlines, widespread power outages, and possible food shortages. Government officials and network anchors are urging everyone to stay indoors.  Stock up and hunker down!

I just ran out and stocked up on stuff that will sustain me if these worst fears are realized, and by the size of the lines at the stores, nearly everyone else around here is doing the same.  But in the back of my mind I’m wondering why my parents and neighbors didn’t freak out like this when I was a kid and we had five foot snowfalls that kept us indoors.  How come nobody back then worried as we pulled on our snowsuits and headed out to make snowmen and forts, and ride our toboggans and sleds recklessly down any hill we could find?  The only dire warnings we got were not to put our tongues on the metal runners of our sleds.

Seems to me that snow storms back then were times of joy and fun, not fear and warnings.  They were times when fires in the fireplace and mugs of hot chocolate were the warm things we came home to; now we don’t even go out because “they” say it’s too dangerous.  I clearly and fondly remember those moments at dusk when the snowflakes were lit by street lights and made us feel like we were safe and all alone in that winter wonderland.  Maybe that was because there were no 24 hour news cycles looking for the next big thing to scare us. 

For sure it’s going to snow tonight, and it may even accumulate in some places.  But as long as people approach things with common sense, and are considerate of one another, then the wonder of watching snowflakes in the light and the thrill of riding toboggans down a hill will be the things we remember, and not the terrible things that are meant to scare us into remaining glued to the weather channel.

My message this week is about being ‘in the moment’ and getting the most out of everything you experience and do:

“The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.” Eleanor Roosevelt

How’s your life treating you? If it’s not all that you want, that may be a case of what you get is what you accept.  In truth, the lives of those we admire are that way because they actively go out and make them so.  Those people live their lives to the fullest: they know what they want, they make plans to achieve their goals, they adjust along the way as needed, and they fight to keep them that way. They are fearless in their approach to getting what they want, and that usually results in a rich set of experiences and rewards.  So if your life or job isn’t exactly what you want, make a plan to change it.  The best lives and jobs are the ones we have: the challenge is to make them the ones we want!

Stay well!