Do you know the feeling of the exhilarating breeze that often blows fiercely right before a big summer thudnerstorm? Standing outside in this moment before it starts to rain is one of the best feelings in the world to me. I love it best when I'm wearing a dress or skirt and have my hair down which makes me feel even more enveloped in the wind. It can be the most ordinary or stressful day and in this moment I don't care if my hair becomes tangled or my skirt blows up, I feel completely enamored and one with the wind. Seconds later, of course, I become aware that I may have shown my underwear to some unsuspecting bystandards, or like this week, that I now must go to court with disheveled hair. Usually however, I manage to spare others my underwear and can quickly run a hairbrush through, both simple steps well worth the feeling of the strong breeze. I like when days stay like this, when the wind stays perfect, not strong enough to make walking difficult nor weak enough to allow the summer heat to overtake the body as it usually does in the July and Augusts of Georgia. When this wind can sustain without the torrential downpours and inclement weather that generally quickly follow, it is a small miracle.
In our job, we often live in this wind, in a sense of anticipation of the storm or rain that has such potential to ruin our day. We have moments where we feel powerful and comfortable and overtaken with emotion, much like standing in these beautiful summer winds. We know there is always a high likelyhood of storm and that it is completely out of control, but there is a feeling of power when we stand in this wind. I know that often people pity my particular branch of social work in general, but I feel that almost all social workers and other helping professions probably feel this the same. The difference I believe lies in the power that so many feel that we actually have, when in actuallity we have very little power and those that appear to are often abusing a false sense of power. We are kind of like the weathermen. We have to tell everyone what is going to happen and draw on expertise that we realize has failed before. Weathermen these days do, however, tend to be pretty efficent at prediction, so maybe it isn't the best analogy. We learn to predict somewhat appropriately because we know our children and families, however, with our turnover and lack of funding, there are often barriers to this efficiency.
This week I was standing in the parking lot of my office in one of these spectacular summer winds. I was late for court, but I stopped and let the breeze fill me to the bone. I felt energized and reminded, that I am a good guy and I'm doing the best I can. I am young, but I'm becoming skilled. I'm growing in my knowledge so that one day I can help advocate on a higher level. The rain did not come this day and it was beautiful, but the storms did continue to come in my work life. I realize, we cannot stop the storms, but we can learn to prepare and we can learn to not focus on the storm but the incredible beauty that can accompany a storm and occasionally, to be cliche, we can dance and run in the rain like we've lost our senses.
