The other night I went out for a run. Not even five minutes in it starts raining. At first it was just a drizzle and then it started pouring. The kind of pouring that drenches you from head to toe within seconds. The kind of rain that would make a person in their right mind run inside immediately, but for some reason I just kept running. I ran and I ran while water splashed up into my new white tennis shoes and my clothes became what felt like a pound heavier because of all the water that had seeped in. The thunder was loud and the lightning was bright and I should’ve gone inside but I didn’t. I felt, for a lack of a better word, present. I could feel each drop hitting my face and I could hear every sloshing footstep. I could feel every ache in my bones and every heavy breath in my chest. And as I progressively slowed to a stop I stood, looking up at the sky with blurred vision as the water fell into my eyes.
I’ve always loved the rain, but I’ve always had a habit of watching it from my window. I’ve never gotten in the middle of it and just felt it all at once, without an umbrella, without a jacket. And you guys maybe this is just my cliché poetic version of thinking, but that is what we do in this life. Instead of being present in the rain we try to just keep a distance or protect ourselves from getting flooded with whatever we need to feel. We run away from it not in it and what kind of life is that? What are we so afraid of?
A few minutes after being inside I dried off. I changed clothes and got under a blanket and I was warm and dry again. Storms of change, heartache, and storms of overwhelming fear don’t last forever and even when they go longer than expected we have a choice to get out when we get too cold. We are blessed with the option to be present and alive in whatever we are dealing with and then simply go inside when we need to. And by go inside I mean spend time with the people that love you, take a breath while listening to your favorite music, watch the sunrise from your bedroom window while drinking coffee from your favorite mug. Then, if we need to go back out from time to time until the storm passes to keep facing it head on that’s what we do. We have been given a gift of the present. Rain or no rain. Life is beautiful. And as I stood there I couldn’t help but smile. I wasn’t sure why because I was soaked and I was tired and my new shoes were no longer white, and I probably didn’t beat the time I was going for, but I felt alive and present. I felt blessed in the middle of a storm. I felt clear. And moments of clarity? Well, I’ll take every one I can get in this lifetime.
So, I urge you to stop watching the rain from your window and go outside from time to time. Stand, walk, run, do what you can, but just be. God knows we can’t stay inside forever.