When the Rain Comes

I have a place in the mountains of North Carolina and I went there this past weekend to get away, to decompress. It rained the entire weekend, hard. I had a wonderful time. I began to think about why people dread rain so much. I believe it is because the weather parallels our perception of life and of living.

I have always been a bit of an odd ball when it comes to weather. I run for exercise and I rather enjoy running in the rain. It feels refreshing to me. I like cold, foggy rainy days as much as I like warm and sunny ones. Some people have joked my attitude about the weather suits my personality. Although, none of them were laughing at the time they said it. Uhmmm?

By and large and in general, people prefer warm and sunny days. Californians will wax poetic when talking about their weather and how nice it is, so sunny and warm. Well, most of time, and up until the recent multi-year draught. They miss the rain for good reasons.

Having warm and sunny days all of the time would be nice for some, but it is not how our planet is constructed. It begs the question, why do people dread rainy days so much?

It is well known, humans do not melt when wet. Although, people speak of rainy days as if they might. Why? Most people are to be found indoors, dry, when it is raining outside. People even hate driving in the rain, though they do so from the dry interiors of their automobiles.

Is it perhaps because when it is raining it keeps us from doing things out of doors? Perhaps, although most everyone owns a raincoat. Not to mention the aforementioned fact that people do not melt when wet. So what is it about rain people do not like?

I believe if you parallel sunny days with success or happiness and rainy days with failure or sadness, you will have answered the question. The similarities are too striking to be disregarded.

But, stop for a moment and consider what life would be like without rainy days and nights. There would be no flowers, or spring, or bountiful crops that grow. There would be no majestic rainbows or brilliant lightening shows. Remember the freshness of the air just after a rain? Remember how clear the atmosphere is that remains? Forgive me If this sounds a bit poetic, I feel it must be. Rain is essential to our hopes, our dreams, our reality you see.

When we are succeeding at what we do we may feel “the sun is shinning down upon us” or we are “having our day in the sun”. Even more so, when storm clouds gather and the rain comes down, why too do we not feel great things are getting ready to come our way, to change for the better?

We can not expect the sun to shine on everything we do, and we can not grow without some rain in our life. The world must have rainy days and so must we. We thrive because of the rainy days in our lives. Just know this. It will always rain longer than we think it should. It will never rain longer than it must. 

Whether the weather or in your personal life, the next time the rain comes here is what you should try to do – celebrate!

Have you had some rain in your life? Would you say it helped you to grow in unexpected ways? Was it a time of positive change for you?