Good Weather Vs Bad Weather

This week, I’m back at writing after a gap of nearly 25 days since my last free write post! I know, that’s a rather long break.

It wasn’t just a writer’s block that I was dealing with. There were multiple blocks, if I may say so, that kept me preoccupied over the past three weeks.

Not that I was stressed or overwhelmed by it. In fact, far from it. What is unusual is that this time, I was actually at peace with myself. I was surprisingly unperturbed by not writing and not seeing myself in a state of creative flow, or not losing my calm for being unable to meet my daily workout goals (I barely managed to get in three out of seven days per week). And whilst I was still far from reaching my reading goals (I did read more than what I’ve been reading over the past few months), I felt I was much more accepting of myself and the situations, despite them being rather demanding on me.

Was it a result of meditating every single day? Probably so. I think meditation has been a big reason for me to retain my inner calm and not be disturbed by things going out of control. That certainly was one big win for me. I must say I did feel a sense of quiet contentment within, considering the time and effort I’ve been dedicating towards achieving that. A small step, but a very important one at that.

But, I must admit, I was irked by one thing all along—and it was the constant dull weather and the perpetually wet, cold and grey mornings in Bangalore.

Over the past four weeks, the constant rains have meant that we’ve barely had a few hours of sunshine and the constantly growing pile of clothes that are either sitting on the laundry basket or refusing to dry on the clothesline, has been driving me to consider buying a dryer. Not to speak of the effects it has had on my moods.

But, I didn’t throw in the towel, because I wasn’t simply ready to give in to negativity.

I figured out I’d have to occupy myself with something way more powerful, so I wouldn’t go moping about the lack of sunshine. That’s how I picked up my #TBR again, and this time, with full gusto. Every time I was free and caught myself staring at the sky, I picked up a book and began reading. It stopped me from complaining and made me think of many other interesting things. That was another tiny win.

And then, in July, I jumped into a photography challenge on Instagram, which turned out to be fun. It made me revisit some memories that were very special and a lot of photos from our travels in the recent years, which again made me smile. Those were the little moments of joys that I was able to create for myself. Again, these were little wins at staying positive, daily!

This week, I also organized my writing space. I put away all the extra books and stationery that were pointlessly taking extra space on the table and instead, made room for the things that really mattered. I also tweaked my routine to identify and eliminate things that were getting int the way of my productivity, which resulted in optimizing the limited time that I get to spend on my writing. The exercise took some time but eventually, turned out to be an eye opener for me.

And then, last week, while looking up motivational quotes to write in my journal, I came across this quote, that turned out to be just the thing I needed to hear:

Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.

—John Ruskin

It made me think of a lot of things, really—not just the weather. It made me realize how everything we encounter in life—be it the good times or the not-so-good ones—every single thing happens to us for a reason.

So, all that we perceive as unpleasant experiences—bad weather, difficult people, challenging situations and problems with no apparent solutions—they are there because life is trying to teach us something. It may not be apparent in the moment, but almost always, as an after-thought, realization happens and we learn—gaining manifold in wisdom and understanding, in ways, that we may not find easy to quantify.

What really matters is this—no matter what the weather is, life is still beautiful, even if we don’t always find the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. Because, some days, the rainbow itself might just be enough.

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Written as part of our #SoulfulSunday free writing exercise, along with my friends Vinitha and Shilpa.

Also linking up with Monday Musings hosted by Corinne at Everyday Gyaan.