I think many of us found strength after the trials and tribulations of this winter storm. Some have suffered, and are still suffering hardships from the lack of power, frozen/busted pipes, loss of water, and needing to boil our water. Let’s not forget about the impact and the strength we’ve had to find during this hardship along with the pandemic. I think we are getting very strong!

Speaking of strength, makes me think of things we can be grateful for and how expressing gratitude can help us weather our hardships. Realistically we can be complaining about the cleanup we may have to do, or needing to boil our water, or being uncomfortable.

What strikes me is when you hear of someone having it pretty bad and that person is still saying, “It could have been worse.” This shows that people are grateful for not having a greater hardship than they have already  suffered.

Complaining about our woes will not get us anywhere. This certainly isn’t meant to minimize any suffering you are or have experienced. It’s that typically amongst our struggles are blessings and things to be grateful for.

They say that gratitude is the antidote to depression. When we are grateful for something, our hearts feel full of joy. Many people will describe warmth across their chest and have a contented smile across their face. Try it. Think of something you are grateful for. Close your eyes and really feel the feeling. What was that like for you?

Things to be grateful for:

Lessons learned from this experience

If you know you might lose power or water ahead of time, fill the bathtub to take water for sponge baths or flushing toilets.

If you have no water, and didn’t fill your tub, you can use pool water for flushing toilets.

When you drip your faucets in freezing weather, you should drip some out of both the hot and cold faucets.

Water needs to come to a rolling boil for two minutes before it is safe to drink, if you are under a boil notice.

You can wrap plants and pipes with miniature Christmas lights for warmth (not LED lights).

Neighbors helping neighbors

I have heard of neighbors helping other neighbors wrap their pipes, clean up their messes after pipes have ruptured and brought them bottled water. Other churches, stadiums and Mattress Mack offered places to warm up. It warms my heart reading about these stories and it helps you restore faith in mankind. You read so much negativity in the paper, yet most people are good people. They just aren’t  written about as much.

People checking in on each other

Did you call or text anyone to see if they were OK? Did you have people check in on you? I heard from many friends and family members all over the US. It is a blessing to care about the welfare of others, and to have others care about your welfare.

New appreciations

Many of us take for granted the basics of survival such as food, water and shelter. Did you ever think you wouldn’t have access to water? Some people had none. Most of us don’t sit around and practice gratitude for heat on a cold day or air conditioning on a hot one. It wouldn’t hurt to start.

I’m appreciative of my gas stove as it allowed us to have a hot meal on a cold day, and to boil water even if there was no electricity. We have never used our gas fireplace. I am now thankful for that as it provided warmth when we were without power.

We have water we can drink, even though we have to boil it. We can complain that we have to boil it, or we can be thankful that we do have the water to boil, and the power to boil the water.

Compassion

Even amidst our own suffering we can be  compassionate towards others who aren’t as lucky. My heart goes out to all those homeless people, and hope they were able to find a place to get warm. Some people had quite a mess to clean up, and my hope is that they were able to get the help they needed.

Now that we have been through this, on top of a pandemic, we will all probably look at the survival skills we learned and the strength we gathered through our suffering. I hope yours wasn’t too great, and that you feel stronger from whatever you have gone through.

I know many are struggling with their mental health, then add on a pandemic and a winter storm, and that can compound things. Please give me a call at 713-304-6554 if I can help out in any way.

Take care,

Debbie