Learning to Dance in the Rain.

Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass… It’s about learning to dance in the rain. – Vivian Greene

Life is a rollercoaster of ups and downs, failures and successes, trials and tribulations, peaks and valleys. No one has a problem-free life; it is not a matter of if but of when. Adversity introduces a man to himself, your true character shows up during trying times, and you also know who your true friends are during challenging moments. As American Baptist minister and activist Martin Luther King Jr once said, “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” Anyone can be calm when everything around them is going fine; the real test is when you must deal with life’s vicissitudes.

Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced. – James Baldwin

Learning to dance in the rain is a metaphor for weathering life’s storms, not letting life’s challenges stop you from living. In life, you are either entering a storm, going through a storm, or entering a new storm. As Scandinavians would say, “There is no bad weather; we only have bad clothing.” The key to navigating life’s challenges is to understand the season of life you are in and use the appropriate clothing for the situation/weather. Life will happen to us all at some point – a health scare, job loss, loss of a loved one, relationship issues, financial problems, divorce, infertility, name it. Everyone is dealing with something you know nothing about – Be KIND.

Life will throw curveballs that you are not expecting at you constantly; dealing with these challenges can be draining and stress-inducing. One of the ways that I have learned to dance in the rain is by having a regimen, a daily routine, and a framework such as the TIME (Thankfulness, Insight, Meditation and Exercise). When the challenges come, there won’t be time to prepare, but recalibrating won’t be hard either.

By simulating pain and discomfort in the gym, the pain would be somewhat familiar when the real challenges of life come—running a full 42.2 KM is one of the most excruciating things anyone can put their body through. When I get asked why I run many marathons a year, most people don’t get it, but I fully understand why I am doing it. Who does four Marathons in a month? I ran four full marathons in May 2023, and it is by far one of the hardest things I have had to do, but it was a very fulfilling adventure. Putting my body through that much pain showed me that I could withstand almost anything.

Nothing great in this world comes without a little bit of adversity. Nothing amazing happens inside our comfort zones. Whether we are talking about getting a promotion, nurturing a challenged marriage, mastering a sport, building or saving a small business, navigating a pandemic, battling disease, dealing with the loss of a loved one, raising children, or hunting terrorists, a little bit of suffering will always be attached. That’s why the things we love and work hard for are deeply rewarding.¹

12-notes-on-life-and-creativity-quincy-jones

Embrace your Struggles

In the midst of adversity, it’s easy to let disappointment or anger take center stage, but I have found that my purpose is so much greater than my problems, although it’s incredibly easy to place an emphasis on the latter.

With the inevitability of hardship in this often broken world, it’s important to understand what fills your voids and also where you are projecting yours. The moment you slip into a victim mentality, not only are you faced with having to deal with external problems, but you’ve also given yourself a whole new set of internal problems that will only stunt your growth as both a human and a creative being. You don’t have to let the anguish that has permeated pockets of your life completely take over. ²

Regardless of how you begin your careers, it is important to realize that your life will not necessarily move in a straight line. You have to recognize that the world is an unpredictable place. Sometimes even gifted people such as yourselves will get knocked back on their heels. It is inevitable that you will confront many difficulties and hardships during your lives. When you face setbacks, you have to dig down and move yourself forward. The resilience you exhibit in the face of adversity—rather than the adversity itself—will be what defines you as a person. ³

“I also keep my sights set on the future and don’t spend much time dwelling on the past. I’ve had some tough experiences as a child and have had my share of business and personal setbacks, but sitting around thinking about them isn’t going to change anything. Someone once said that I was a good winner but a better loser. When I have a setback, I put it behind me as fast as I can and keep moving.”

I don’t play golf but I compare the way I respond to disappointments to the way a golfer does after he hits his drive into the water. He doesn’t walk down to the pond, dive in, dig out his ball, examine the ball, and ponder what happened. Instead, he takes another ball out of his bag, tees it up, and keeps on playing. After a disappointment I always try to bounce back and I’ve no doubt that this has helped me tremendously. ⁴

Meditation

Daily Calm with Tamara Levitt – Beautiful Imperfection
Judgment separates us from others, giving us a sense of division or superiority. But on the flip side of judgment is an opportunity to feel the connection because whatever it is we are judging, we probably suffer from some version of the same feature or flaw. We all have our flaws and guilty pleasures; that is what makes each of us so compelling and interesting.