Somewhere Over The Rainbow

by Gail Allen

Some time back, I accidentally drove straight into a tornado. And I live to tell the tale which I'm not sure how many people could do! My college friend and I spontaneously decided to have supper one night. No big deal, right? I didn't think so. All the way through my town, all the way to the interstate, the sky looked dark and there were some lightning strikes, but never any rain. Then right before I got on the interstate, the wind started picking up, but still nothing that made me feel overly cautious. Then, as soon as I merged onto the interstate, I was driving in hail. The wind was blowing so hard that my poor little Honda was shaking. Almost as hard as I was! I  couldn't see anything except the tail lights of the car in front of me until I saw a tree literally flying across the road straight in front of me. We were all going about 25 mph and I was so grateful that the people in front of me had their flashers on and I could focus in on those lights. I remember trying to pray, but all I could do was breathe and keep going forward slowly. ​

Within 5 miles or so, the storm had passed and I was able to see well enough to pull off and exit to get gas because guess who had thought gas would be cheaper where I was going than where I had started?! But as luck would have it, of course, the gas station didn't have electricity  because a tornado had just gone through! So I sat in my car beside the pump and shook for a while. When I finally got back on the interstate, looking in my rearview mirror, there were cars off the road, in both directions, tree limbs everywhere, and the visible aftermath of a powerful storm.

I thought about how symbolic that can be for my life. When I was in the midst of the storm, I couldn't see to the left or the right, I couldn't see behind me, all I could do was breathe and just keep going forward. If I had stopped, my car could have slid off into the ditch, hit or been hit by someone else who also couldn't see, or maybe even flipped over. I was strictly in survival mode at that point. I wasn't listening to what was on the radio, wasn't planning my next class, wasn't even worried about what I was going to eat, or even letting my friend know why I was going to be so late. No one else knew I was on the road because I hadn't thought to tell anyone, as it was just a simple meal. 

How often do we do that in our own lives? When we are stuck in survival mode, we can't worry about anything else except putting one foot in front of the other, one breath in and out at a time. And that's okay. For a time. But when we get stuck there, it quickly becomes a problem! That lifestyle is not sustainable for long-term living. Our physical bodies start experiencing warning signs. Our relationships deteriorate or we become so fixated on helping others that we don't have to feel our own feelings. Our higher levels of thinking and spiritual lives begin to stagnate, regardless of how many weekly church services or hourly meditation practices we do.... because we have zero mental energy left to put towards it, so they just become automated responses, even if they leave you feeling emotional. 

If you're finding yourself in storm mode and you're finally ready to make your way over the rainbow, then let's talk about the different services Audacious Wellness Academy offers because clearing out the old, stuck, or stagnated energy is really the only way for us to make room for the beautiful rainbow energy in our lives!