We all think it will never happen to me, but it can. For the people of Holly, Colorado, it did. What is it you ask? A tornado, the width of two football fields traveling at a speed of over 160 miles per hour. Now, you may live in an area where tornados are unlikely but maybe there is a personal tornado brewing in your life. Or for you it is an earthquake, a hurricane, or a flood. Whatever your natural disaster is, are you ready for it? Are you ready for the way it is tearing up your life? Are you prepared to start over and rebuild?
It seems that it would be too early for tornado season to begin but after a tornado ripped through the town where I live in late March of last year, I believe anything is possible. I also believe that some things are meant to be, even bad things. How is it that even though it’s too early for tornado season, one hit? How is it that there was no warning? The National Weather Service didn’t even pick it up on their radar. How is it that only two people died when over 1/3 of the houses in the town were destroyed? Is it meant to be? Why? It is often hard to see because we do not know the universe’s master plan.
The devastation was unreal. What took 20 seconds for Mother Nature to do will take the people in my community years to fix. As I look out my front window at the empty lot that used to hold my closest neighbor’s home, I realize how lucky I am to be here. And I begin to ponder how it was that I was spared or that more people didn’t die in this tremendous tragedy? Then I wonder, was it a tragedy at all, or simply something to change our lives? Through this experience, we have seen people from all over come to our community to help with the disaster relief efforts. They have worked hard right beside us and they have donated their time and money to help people they don’t even know. When I see this, I know that this world really is good but sometimes, we have to clear the debris to be able to see it. We have to experience something that takes us back down to earth, back to basics to know what is really important.
As the tornado was passing by my house and all I could see was blackness, all I could hear was the loud rumble that sounded like a freight train roaring by and as I felt my home shake, I knew at that moment that the only things that really mattered was my family. All I cared about was that we were all together and safe. Then later as I walked through debris helping my fellow citizens sift through what was left of their lives, I thought about what else was important. What about the memories, the pictures, the keepsakes? The people seemed to keep repeating, “We have our lives.” They didn’t care about the house, they cared about the memories that it held. Many even joked that they had been meaning to get rid of a few things. The tornado had definitely done that for them.
Stop and take some time to think about what is important to you. If everything you had were gone tomorrow, what would you value the most to want to take with you? Then take the steps necessary to make that happen. Sift through what is cluttering up your life and make what is important a priority.
We don’t know when disaster is going to hit but if we live our lives expecting it and waiting for the worst, are we really living? Can we live in fear of the “what if”? We certainly can’t stop it or control it. What we can have is hope. Hope for what the future holds. Hope for mankind and the acts of kindness others display when we are hurting. Hope that life can get better. Hope that we can rebuild whatever dreams have been ripped away from up. Hope that we can rewrite our memories and create a new life while looking to the future.
A Tornado Blowing Through Your Life - To learn more about this author, visit Michelle Weimer's Website.
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Michelle Weimer
(Visit Michelle's Website)
I am a certified life coach through Coach
Training Alliance, which is an accredited
program by the International Coach
Federation. I have a BA in Psychology with
an emphasis in Counseling and an area of
concentration in Social Work. I also have
a MA in both Elementary and Secondary
Counseling. As a school counselor for 10
yrs, I spent much of my time coaching
students through identifying who they
wanted to be and what they wanted to do
with their futures. I worked with them to
set and attain the goals they needed to
get there. I then made my own transition
to coaching as a career after staying home
with my children for several years.
As a skilled listener, I possess the
intuition, critical thinking and
analytical skills to communicate and
inspire people to move forward in their
lives. I have training in how to start and
market a business as well as experience in
creating three businesses of my own.
If you think you might benefit from having
a coach to assist with the challenges of
creating a balanced and prosperous life,
please contact me to request a free sample
session or subscribe to my ezine.
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