Wednesday Wisdom: The Stillness In Nature Continues To Beckon.
Some healing and lessons received during or after a backpacking trip can be long-lasting. This one has been an interesting one for sure.
We are traveling yesterday and today for Jason’s work and there were some rolling blackouts in the area where we are staying that had quite an effect. The power was out at the hotel we were staying in until after 9 pm last night, so we checked into a hotel across the street, where they did have power.
In the first part of the power outage, I thought “oh, I’ll sit in the lobby of the hotel and read a book I brought…”
That was a fine plan until the staff learned one of their employees was trapped in the elevator. :-/
You see, many years ago, I found myself stuck in an elevator between floors for hours… and I didn’t realize that wasn’t really a “closed chapter.” At some point, the person in the elevator began screaming and freaking out… which reignited some trauma from my own experience years before.
I decided to pack up my things and leave the lobby, as reading my book wasn’t going to be something I could do whilst this woman was struggling with being stuck in the elevator.
I chatted with the hotel staff and learned they had called 911 and the elevator company and the latter arrived shortly after to help with getting the person out of the elevator.
I drove around looking for a space where I might be able to work remotely to learn that this power outage was a bit more widespread than I anticipated. The electric company has a website where you can monitor outages… so I checked it – yeah, the outages were VERY widespread.
So, what did I do? I got crafty and worked from my phone, letting clients and my team know that I was available in a limited capacity.
The lingering effects of the outage included limited and no internet connectivity until only recently. Yikes!
When I picked Jason up from the plant, I had been keeping him posted of all the happenings of the day and he summed up my day with, “holy shit.” haha
After dinner, we went for a short drive to see the view from a nearby golf course that overlooks the area… along the way, we saw a fire that had just started right off a freeway that is less than a mile from our hotel (and thankfully, fire crews were already battling it back and it is completely out).
When we got to the view of the city near the golf course, I was reminded of stillness.
The stillness that nature teaches us.
And that is the lesson I took away from this whole experience.