I know that I have previously touched upon my issues with change, especially change that I didn’t see coming. Change I control? Fine. I could move anywhere in the world, as long as I was part of the decision-making process taking me there. Change I can at least see coming? Fine. Layoffs are a piece of cake, because all one need do to avoid being blindsided is pay attention. (My most recent layoff occurred between my two interviews for the Zoo!) Change that takes me by surprise, however, can knock me right on my butt. Even small things like having to rush or wait or make a sudden decision are enough to get all my monkeys screaming at once.
It is a wonder, then, that I prefer changeable weather. We have had quite a bit of rain in San Diego over the last week or so, and it has actually been as close to WI weather as I have seen since I’ve lived here: the rain is intermittent, with patches of sunshine between, and there has been thunder and lightning and floods, and — rather freakishly — a tornado warning. There are even patches of green sprouting here and there! Still, it is Southern California, after all, and these bits of flux were anchored in the stagnant gray of the storm(s) — tiny deviations from the rain-norm, much in the same way that the occasional Santa Ana serves as enough of a departure from the sun-norm to give our meteorologists something to say other than “another perfect day, sunny and warm with low clouds in the morning which should burn off by 10.” There is a reason (other than mosquitoes) that I never visit my WI family in the summer.
Perhaps this longing for changeable weather is what makes me so fond of things like this. I don’t think I have a gadget that does not have a “foul” weather simulator of some kind on it. I have been standing in the rain lately instead of listening to mp3s of it, tho. Lucky me!
Unexpected changes are always tough for anyone to handle. Learning to go with the flow of change takes a long time. We dislike things that don’t meet our expectations or take us by surprise, that’s part of being human. The best you can do is adapt as much as possible to be able to turn your direction as the world changes around you.…
You and me both in regards to the great weather last week :) I felt so comfortable and relaxed (odd given how chaotic the weather itself was)… it was a really nice change of pace.