An Unexpected Gift

Patt Osborne

Welcome to June - it’s almost Summer!  The warm days are long and the nights are filled with the sounds of nearby bullfrogs and crickets.  I love this time of year!

A couple of weeks ago, we experienced a quick yet powerful late-night spring storm in our area - chock full of strong winds and teeming rain; all accompanied by loud claps of thunder and brilliant lightning that lit up the sky .  While we were enjoying this spontaneous free show put on by Nature, we suddenly lost our electricity after an especially bright bolt of lightning struck nearby.  After checking for damages and finding none, we drifted off to sleep.  It was late.  No worries. We were confident the power would be returned by morning.

But it wasn’t.  And we weren’t alone. Apparently every household on our little trail was without electricity.  Yikes!  Almost everything on my to-do list that day included the use of electrical power; from sending and returning a slew of emails to a host of phone calls, to creating and printing new outdoor retreat flyers - everything came to a standstill.

Initially I panicked.  How could I get through the day without completing those “major things of importance” on my list?  After a few more moments of grousing, it occurred to me what luck I had been presented with…and I ought to pay attention to it!

With that realization, I began to settle down.  After venturing outdoors and finding out that our power would likely be out for at least another 10 hours, I realized I had a whole delicious day in front of me…now with no plans.  What to do?  Here’s what happened:  I curled up on my sofa and read for a couple of hours, I cleaned out some drawers that had long needed my attention, I took a longer than usual walk outdoors and I even had a nice chat with my neighbor who I hadn’t seen in a while.  While reading, I noticed the outside sounds of the birds in the trees…much more so than when I’m working in my home office.  I noticed that I was even moving around the house at a much slower pace.  It was wonderful!

What about YOU?  What happens to you when your plans go askew?  It’s a cliché, yet if you can find a way to make lemonade out of lemons, you’ll find that you’re ever so much happier and content.  It’s a choice…choose to moan and complain and be wracked with negative emotion OR choose to go with the flow and find the positive in the current circumstances.  Once I made my choice to calm down, the day unfolded and became a beautiful and unexpected gift.

Patt Osborne is a professional certified life coach and outdoor retreat leader.  She coaches adventuresome people who want to seriously upgrade their quality of life.  In addition, she leads Outdoor Adventure Retreats for women with attitude who want to reconnect with nature while rediscovering their authentic selves. www.adventurecoach.com