I had to wonder:
Have you ever noticed how sometimes,
the storms in our lives feel bigger and scarier than they actually turn out to be?

last week,
i found myself in a spiraling of worry.
i was crazy anxious about karaoke,
a few friends,
and some Foxholers living in tampa, florida.
all of them in the direct path of hurricane milton.
the panic only deepened after hearing a government official’s stern warning:

“Leave or y’all gonna die!”

while some friends and Foxholers were in full blown panic,
i called karaoke,
bracing myself for the worst.
to my surprise…

she was calm.
in fact,
she and her husband were all set in staying home.
she wasn’t in much of a evacuation zone and she trusted the map she had.
her biggest concern?
her board games.

“If the house blows away, I’ve got insurance,” she laughed,
“it’s my games I’m worried about!”

it was giving:

it was hard not to smile.
needless to font,
she ended up riding out the storm at her daughter’s,
playing games with their family all night long.
when she returned home,
there was barely any damage.
just like that,
the storm had passed.
my other friends and Foxholers?
they were fine as well.
some lost power but nothing more.
it got me thinking:

Aren’t problems in life just like storms?

some feel unavoidable like they’ll sweep us off our feet.
others,
however,
seem catastrophic but end up as nothing more than it’s just drizzling.

i’m learning that the real challenge is in how we face them.
sometimes…

The storms we fear most are more about the panic we create inside ourselves than the actual danger.

maybe the best thing we can do is facing it head-on,
ride it out with calm,
and remembering that this too shall pass.

Sometimes,
it’s how we handle our storms that makes all the difference.

lowkey: i got hit with a major setback yesterday.
i feel relatively calm.
either i’m on karaoke’s type of time or i’ve lost my mind.