When life throws you lemons... and hailstones bigger than golf balls...
I've had a once-in-a-lifetime 'adventure'... and learned loads!
Being at and in the centre of a natural hailstorm disaster last month has brought me a lot of clarity about what I want to do with my life.
Sometimes the worst thing that happened turns out to be the best thing ever, right!?
Please read on and let me explain… It's a bit of an adventure story!
First things first:
How are you? I haven’t forgotten about you in all these months you didn’t hear from me. Not at all. I have thought of you more often than you might know.
Yes, I let myself be distracted, very distracted.
Apart from the storm, some other real-life things happened as well.
I kind of moved from the UK to France due to personal circumstances and huge changes in my life, and I found myself travelling between three countries: dividing my time, energy and focus between being in the UK where my son still lives, The Netherlands where my daughter is now at University and where my mum and family are, and the Dordogne in France where I’m currently staying.
Some very close friendships also presented me with some situations that I could call ‘challenging’ in human terms, and these events offered me a huge opportunity to decide on how I want to show up in my own life and in my relationships. There were lots of tears, and there was also lots of learning and wonderful personal development.
For a few months this spring I was involved in a business venture that initially looked very exciting; it turned out to be very out of alignment with who I am, why I do what I do, and how I want to work with my clients. In the end it was a wonderful exercise in appreciating my own core values!
And then ‘the storm hit’… literally!
A 10-minute hailstorm in the south-west of France with hail ‘rocks’ bigger than golf balls shattered all the windows at the front of the house, smashed huge holes in the roof tiles, decimated the outdoor furniture and fences, and destroyed trees and bushes… And that was just this house I'm in. A huge area in the south-west of France was hit (and I’m so grateful that no humans died), tens of thousands of homes were severely damaged and cars were written off, infrastructure was disrupted, crops destroyed, we had a power cut for a couple of days, and flora and fauna is now in the process of finding a new balance after many animals died and nature took a real bad hit.
And faced with all this destruction I had some choices to make.
How was I going to show up in this situation? How was I going to deal with boarding up windows, covering holes in the roofs, clearing all the glass from inside and outside the house?
One of my favourite quotes ever is by Viktor E. Frankl:
"Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way."
So I decided to have an adventure.
I choose to see the good in every person I met, every interaction I had, every moment of understanding between myself and other people who were affected.
I choose to put some music on, get stuck in, and get the job done.
I choose to smile and have some fun.
I’m not saying it wasn’t hard work – there were long, long days of hard physical work, especially because more rain was forecasted, as well as more gusts of wind, and we needed to get the house watertight as quickly as possible. The fire brigade, a squadron from 6 hours drive away, came to help us and our elderly neighbours and spent one and a half day covering the roofs with big sheets of plastic. I feel so grateful for all the help we received!
Yes there is still lots to do: getting quotes for repairs, dealing with the insurance and experts/assessors. It’s a long haul situation.
And while all this was going on I kept smiling and considering how to move forward with my business…
The Clarity after the Storm
When I had gotten out of the habit of connecting with you on a regular basis, my brain had some interesting ‘default’ thoughts like
‘It’s too late now to pick up where I left off.’
‘I’m sure they’ll be annoyed by me being inconsistent with my newsletters.’
‘What’s the point in getting in touch again now, you’ve lost it all.’
And even though I was wondering if there was any point in me still getting in touch with you, the side-track business venture and the hailstorm last month gave me the clarity:
YES, I’m still here and I’d love to continue my adventure with you and I invite you to come along.
I’ve had an opportunity to get real clear on my core values and make some really aligned choices… including reaching out to you!
I invite you to sign up now for my brand-new series ‘The Wise Learner Snippets’!
I’ve got them all lined up for you: a series of short videos, ‘snippets’ of the many online presentations I have given over the years. Short excerpts containing some food for thought, wise words, encouragement, and loads of love for who you are. Also some short videos following the many insights I have experienced in the last few months in particular, that I would love to share with you in our continued conversation.
The first ‘snippet’, called ‘The Challenge of Change/The Paradox of Change’, is ready for you - follow this link to start receiving ‘The Wise Learner Snippets’ in your inbox every week:
https://thewiselearner.com/snippets
I’d love to hear from you, so please hit reply to this blog to check in!
Speak soon, and with love,
Renny