What’s the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of spring? Spring is typically associated with blooming flowers symbolizing rebirth, regrowth, and rejuvenation. Warmer weather approaches, bare tree branches give way to budding green leaves, and animals come out of hibernation. However, spring is also associated with rain and flowers can’t bloom without rain.

One of my favorite quotes (and you’ve probably heard of it before) states, “everybody wants happiness, nobody wants pain, but you can’t have a rainbow without a little rain (unknown author).” Life is going to get hard at times, it’s inevitable. However, it’s up to you as to how you choose to perceive those challenges, how you choose to react, and what you choose to seek out and give your time and attention to. We all know right now is a difficult time for the entire world with the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s all you hear about on the news, radio, commercials, social media, etc. Ultimately, there are two paths you can take in regards to your perception on the matter. You can get sucked into the negativity and mass panic spread by the media or you can seek out the positivity. Restaurants may be shutting down but they’re also donating masses of food to the homeless. People may be out of work or working from home but they’re also getting the opportunity to focus on self-care, personal future goals and quality time with loved ones for once. Travel bans are impeding people’s planned vacations but the environment is seeing some positive changes without the mass human pollution. We can choose to look at the community that’s building out of this pandemic amidst social distancing or we can choose to take part in the panic buying of groceries as if this were an apocalypse.

Let’s try and take a new perspective on not only this pandemic but all challenges that life throws us. If life were easy all the time and there were no hardships, we would never feel accomplished or gratified or fulfilled. Let’s look at these challenges as a little rain. Rain is necessary for flowers to sprout and for rainbows to shine. Rain washes the dirt away. Rebirth, regrowth, and rejuvenation would be concepts that wouldn’t exist without rain or hardships.

In order to move forward, we need to step outside of our comfort zone. Whether you’re starting your path toward recovery from addiction, facing childhood trauma, overcoming depression/anxiety, or dealing with grief/loss, each begin with taking that first step. At the same time, that first step is also the hardest step because it means that you are consciously choosing to step outside of your comfort zone. This is what makes treatment hard because we tend to grow comfortable in our feelings of depression or anxiety because it’s what we know and leaving that comfort zone means change and change means uncertainty and risk. However, the greatest amount of personal growth occurs the further you step out of that comfort zone, meaning you have to decide whether it’s a risk worth taking for the opportunity at a better quality of life. In addition, an important factor in that decision lies in the way you perceive a challenge/hardship. Therefore, “life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass, it’s about learning to dance in the rain.” – Vivian Greene

If you are finding yourself struggling with overwhelming stress and anxiety due to the pandemic or need some assistance and support in taking your first step toward recovery from addiction or mental health, please contact Life Enhancement Counseling Services today at 407-443-8862 to schedule an appointment with one of our experienced Orlando mental health counselors. The steps you choose to take to move forward may be some of the most important and critical steps of your life. We hope you and your families are staying safe and healthy during this outbreak.