Weekend Motivation 178

As I’m writing this we’re battening down the hatches for a potentially bad winter storm. But as more and more of our dead of winter storms are these days it’s likely to be a mostly rain event. It got me thinking though how much of our lives are ruled by weather and just how much time we spend preparing for it. Where I live the whole area is prone to high winds, costal surges, washouts and even the odd hurricane. Our house specifically is facing the open ocean at the top of a treeless hill. That does make for some amazing views but when storms come we get hit harder than most. It also factors into the decision to move on too. Our work also hinges so much on the weather and we mostly have to work in it. It can bring opportunity or put a pin in our plans pretty fast too. An early warm spring means that we get a jump on the summer busy season, book more work overall and even get to enjoy more of the best parts of the summer on the boat. A disaster though can mean we’re out thousands in a day. Sometimes those sorts of days do bring opportunities too. A poor season means we’ll be wet, poorer and let a lot of people down.

We came home and did all the regular things we all do around here, serviced the generator, brought in wood and cleaned the chimney. Knock on wood but our house is pretty storm proof at this point but anyone could call with an emergency at their house tomorrow. It also got me thinking just how much time we spend preparing for things other than poor weather as well. Not just weather but we spend A LOT of energy planning for what we want to have happen, what might happen instead and what’s not really all that likely but could still technically happen. That’s not really wasted energy though. We’re generally prepared for almost whatever does come up and to spring into action when opportunity knocks.

It’s a hard thing to get that balance right though. There’s a fine line between preparedness and needless worry or inducing anxiety and missing the obvious. It is part of my nature to be prepared and all the way through to at least option D, but I still think it’s the right way to come at life. That attitude helps me in running and training in general too. The stakes aren’t as high for running and racing but being prepared for all the scenarios does help. For all the planning we do our days can still take off in an unanticipated direction and my lunchtime training run sometimes starts at 10 pm. That is by the way option D a lot of the time. Other days having a running bag stashed in the truck means I can sneak a run in when someone is running late.

This year being prepared while waiting for opportunity to strike could be the mantra on so many levels. We’re all in this holding pattern for now but we don’t know for how long. While it may be a little foolish to assume a return to normal is just around the corner there is no harm in being prepared. So this weekend take some time to think of the things that you could prepare for now in order to make the most of a moment of opportunity!