I remember reading these words several years ago…
“And once the storm is over, you won’t remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won’t even be sure, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in.” – Haruki Murakami
Yes, the storms in your life change you. They are your greatest teacher and they challenge you to your very core.
The storms makes it almost impossible to remain the same because it threatens to strip away the most important.
The storm makes you choose between what is comfortable and what is important.
I remember not being aligned with the person I wanted to be. She was an image I held in my mind, but she was separate from me.
My life was a series of storms back then. It was chaotic, hard, and unstable. I would wake up most mornings with a pit in my stomach and occasionally cry myself to sleep at night. I was full of anxiety and every time I got my footing, the rug was pulled out again.
The only way to remove myself from that cycle was to pull the plug on that life, but I knew I would be walking into the biggest storm yet. But I did it anyway, because eventually the pain of remaining where you are becomes greater than the pain of changing.
Haruki Murakami was right, I’m not sure how I managed to survive, and I’m not sure if it’s over… but somewhere along the way I joined forces with the person I wanted to be.
We are so afraid of loss that we paralyze ourselves. We are afraid of losing our possessions, our families, our animals, our friends, and what’s familiar.
But the truth is, all of the things that are meant for you, stay with you… and everything else falls away because they were either misfits in your world, or you were a misfit in theirs.
The storm is scary. It’s hard, so very very hard.
But if you keeping walking towards it anyway, you find courage and resilience, you sort out what matters and what doesn’t, you find your people, and you find yourself… a self you are proud of, who is humble and compassionate, confident and full of faith, and understands the value of love and joy because it has been to depths of anger and shame.
The storms don’t kill you, they are what make you. And I promise that you will be a stronger, softer, truthful version of yourself when you walk out.