Fire the weather forecaster
I wouldn’t say that I am someone who travels ALL the time but I travel enough to still enjoy it and get joy from visiting new places and experiencing some new things. Yet, I have observed that there are two kinds of “weather checkers” when it comes to traveling: (1) those who check it profusely so they can pack accordingly and (2) those who never check it and whatever happens happens and they will deal with it accordingly when they get there.
I am the first. Hands down. I have this sickness where I overpack. I’m serious. Earlier this year, I had traveled to a big city for a speaking engagement as well as a couple other appointments and when I unloaded my car, I had to get the stainless steel luggage rack in the hotel lobby to get all my stuff up to my room. The couple, who happed to be in the elevator with me, looked at me like I was nuts and the guy said: “Are you moving in?!” I said, “Haha! You would think, right?” Confession: I was only in town for 3 days!
In many areas of my life, I am pretty decisive. When it comes to packing for a trip, no matter how short or how long, I am trying to plan for every single weather scenario. Plus, if I need 4 outfits for the trip, I’ll pack 35 just to be safe. Or do you pack enough underwear as if you are going to get the worst stomach bug of your life for everyday you’re gone? Why do we do this?! Or have you ever checked the weather so much that you talk yourself out of going and enjoying something you really want to do on the sheer possibility that something MIGHT ruin the trip?
As of late, I’ve had to do some major re-evaluating of how often I have been checking the “forecast” in my life. Now, this forecast seems very real to me because it is rooted in past hurts, betrayals, disappointments, and unmet expectations. There is this feeling that creeps up that SCREAMS that if you venture out again, what makes you think the same thing won’t happen to you?
Our heart, our spirit makes a decision to finally do something and then our mind immediately goes to work to find reasons to not do it or why it will fail. Our mind will try to collect evidence for a verdict we have already decided on. For example, we could be freaking out about something that we are just SURE is true even though there is not a shred of factual truth to support those notions. So, what do we do? We spiral out of control and go digging to find the tiniest bit of “evidence” to support and justify our theory.
The weather is meant to be checked, not watched. Why? When we sit around and watch it all day, it will scare us. It’s good to make a plan and make provision but to watch it will breed fear, not faith. That forecast will work against the good that is in your life and the facts that you know to be true. How many times have we stopped ourselves because we’ve been listening to the wrong forecast and have pumped so much fear into ourselves that we put the dream and destination back on the shelf? Just the suggestion of a disaster is enough to send some of us running in retreat. What if they don’t like you is enough to keep you cooped up in your house. What if you fall short is enough to keep you from pursuing that dream.
Sometimes the weather is not even against us but we feel like it is because our mind is trying to collect evidence for a verdict that is no longer accurate. Watching the weather is trying to calculate something we cannot control. That is a hard truth for someone with my personality to accept but it’s one I am fighting to embrace.
Maybe it’s time we fire who we have allowed to be our weather forecaster; maybe that “person” is our past and all that it has brought with it. We have been consulting the wrong source to find out what our future looks like. If we are always checking with how we feel, we will always find a reason to contradict and not follow through with our responsibilities! Sometimes, commitment means facing resistance but with resolve in our heart!