When Storm Clouds Roll In…
In this thing called life, we all know it can’t always be sunny. Sometimes there are days it rains. And sometimes there are days it thunderstorms. And once in a blue moon, it thunderstorms for a week straight. It can’t be avoided or planned for. Life has a way of just…happening.
Not too long ago, very early on a Monday morning, I had just finally gone to bed…late. And as I lay waiting to fall asleep, I heard my phone ring. At 1:45AM. Immediately I knew something was wrong. My husband Rico (who was also awake) instinctively said “It’s your sister”.
When I got to the phone, it had stopped ringing, but I saw clear as day who had called…my sister. I immediately got worried as two days earlier she had gone to the hospital with a severe anaphylactic reaction. The irony was that we had JUST had a conversation earlier that night where I told her if there was ever an emergency, to call me no matter how late it was. And I just got a call.
After calling her back and speaking to her boyfriend, I found out she was en route to the hospital. I then got another call that she had fainted in the emergency check-in. This was not good. It was now 2am as I drove to meet her there. A billion thoughts crossed my mind on that drive …“will she be okay?”…”what is happening to her?”…”should I stop and bring her tea?”. I’m grateful, that not one of those thoughts had to do with whether or not my employer would understand if I didn’t make it in to work that Monday. I’m grateful that I didn’t have to count vacation days in my head in case I had to miss the day. I’m grateful that at a time when all I cared about was my sister being alive and okay, the only thoughts to cross my mind were about her.
Thankfully, she was stable and alert when I arrived. While no one had any answers as to what had happened to her, I helped her and her boyfriend pass the time with some especially cheesy jokes and epic stories. We all left the hospital around 8AM. I spent that Monday catching up on sleep.
If there is one thing I’m eternally grateful for as an entrepreneur, it’s the flexibility in my schedule when shit hits the proverbial fan. Yes you have to make alternative arrangements, but at the end of the day, you are the ultimate decider of what is most important in that moment. Work can wait. Clients can wait. No one else gets to make a call on what to do but you. That is empowering. And when life is happening, it means you don’t spend a second of time wondering/worrying what your boss will say. If you aren’t in the business of saving lives, it means that putting your out of office on, is the biggest challenge you will have to face.
That week, I started with a trip to the hospital on Monday. Found out a dear friend and colleague had been in a bad car accident (and miraculously was okay). By Tuesday, our car’s transmission had died and our car needed to be towed. Wednesday my sister was rushed back to the hospital by ambulance and I spent the day at her bedside. All this in 3 days.
The storm clouds were not only looming, they were hanging out and playing Monopoly. We all go through this at one time or another. Where you think, “What more could possibly go wrong?!” and then something else does.
When you embark on the journey to entrepreneurship, it’s never easy, but I’m happy to say that at times like this, some things are easier. Like focusing on what really matters in life and not that report your boss wants you to have done by Friday.
And at the end of the day, no matter how bad the storm, or how long it lasts, the sun always comes back out and shines down.
From the Flock,
NLT
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