Almost every person I know has a weatherman story. You know it, don’t you? The story of the weatherman who could not predict a sunny day even when they were out in the hot sun getting dehydrated. This is how myself and my colleagues have felt this week. We had a prediction for snow. We did not have a gentle prediction, we had a strong declaration from all the local news sources that there was going to be a “major snow event” in our city. Over 100 snowplows were on standby, as was my entire staff and our families.
Originally we were told that the snow would start this morning and continue for approximately two days. This morning I awoke to rain. We were then told that the snow would start at 14:00 and continue for two days…. then 20:00. Finally, around 20:30 we saw the first snow that stuck. About an hour later there was another brief round. We now have about one inch on the ground and it is not snowing anymore. We were told that school would definitely need to be canceled tomorrow, now I am having serious doubts as I stare into a night sky that is not producing snow. Parents are emailing me continually wanting to know if there are updates, will there be school when we wake up in the morning, ten hours from now? The only definitive answer I can give is not definitive as I just do not know…. and there is no way of knowing, as even the most experienced weatherman are not making accurate predictions here.
This made me think – how can a weatherman say what our local weatherman said? How can they say it WILL snow, for certain? They do not control the weather patterns, and their satellite weather tracking systems also do not control the weather. We are completely vulnerable to the weather and must protect ourselves from the realities of its wrath.
I then challenged myself – it is not just weather that I cannot control – most things in m life are really not in my control, but rather, afford me the illusion of control. I have to understand that the forces of the universe are great and I cannot change them.
Today, 42 days ’til 40, I pause to remind myself that I am not in control. When I fully understand the reality that I am not in control, I actually gain control by relinquishing it and challenging myself to accept the part of life which come less planned than I would like.
~400daystil40
Fortuitous Forty!!! 
behindthemaskofabuse
January 10, 2013 at 01:36
How much snow does it take to have the school closed there? Here we have so much snow!
400daystil40
January 10, 2013 at 22:19
This is a no snow area, so it takes very little to shut us down…..
behindthemaskofabuse
January 10, 2013 at 22:20
wow you would be shut down most of the winter here then…lol
400daystil40
January 10, 2013 at 22:23
lol!!!
Another Thousand Words
January 10, 2013 at 02:21
Somehow, 400, it seems the ‘acceptance’ evolves into a form of ‘control’…I don’t exactly know how to explain this. Perhaps, because we actually are taking ‘control’, in a way, when we accept reality, and we then move onward. It’s a subject I’d like to think about a bit more…so I’ll save this post, and maybe offer more at a later date.
400daystil40
January 10, 2013 at 22:18
Ah, a very good point! It’s the yin and yang of it all – give up control to gain control!
Another Thousand Words
January 11, 2013 at 04:08
To many, that seems to be a conundrum…but it really isn’t, 400…at least to me!
walkwiththerabbi
January 10, 2013 at 03:42
One of the greatest and most empowering aspects of our lives, is when we rest in true “Acceptance” – not one of saying “oh well, I suppose this is my lot in life,” but rather, “in light of the reality of the moment, most of which I can’t control, this is the attitude and actions I choose to maximize the moment, regardless of externals.”
400daystil40
January 10, 2013 at 22:18
Ah, a very good point!
Spider42
January 10, 2013 at 11:39
Completely agree with you about the illusion of control BUT not about the weathermen as such.
I’ve realised that there’s huge differences between a weatherman and someone who can actually predict the weather – intelligence and dilligence being chief.
Here in India we have a long-running joke that the Met (meteorological) Dept. predictions should be taken as reverse – if they say rain, expect none and so on and so forth. One guy actually kept records until a few years back and he claimed that in around a decade of him keeping track, they hadn’t been right even once. 😀 How’s that for bad predictions?
And yes, they and their satellites don’t control the weather but except for sudden shocks like an act-of-god level storm or some such that just comes on exceptionally fast, most basic weather patterns can be predicted to within a certain amount of reason – no system is perfect but I think they do alright most of the time. The question is simply whether the weather guys where you are happen to be the ones who actually make an effort to know and are meteorologists (or whatever) themselves or just pretty/handsome faces to deliver whatever someone else doles out who might be poor at what they do?
400daystil40
January 10, 2013 at 22:15
hehehe – this comment made me laugh as I have said most of those things myself! I agree with you completely! Here’s hoping for nice weather for us all – literally and figuratively!
Spider42
January 11, 2013 at 07:38
As I sit in my tiny office room, working secretly on the already overdue script with a tiny space-heater keeping me warm during the coldest winter in almost 50 years, I hope strongly! 😀
400daystil40
January 12, 2013 at 16:38
🙂
Victoria Oldham
January 10, 2013 at 16:39
That’s a scary thing to admit. I don’t think I’m quite there yet.
400daystil40
January 10, 2013 at 22:14
I think it takes practice over many years to really get there.
thelastsongiheard
January 12, 2013 at 06:50
If you really want a lesson in “illusion of control”, try challenging life to “bring it on” and then see what happens next LOL
I won’t be doing that again…
400daystil40
January 12, 2013 at 16:37
Yes, I foolishly did that once when I was younger…. also, never again! 🙂
thelastsongiheard
January 12, 2013 at 18:43
LOL Yeah…. but we survived, right? A few more scars here and there but we’re still standing 🙂
simon7banks
January 12, 2013 at 22:44
Weathermen (and weatherwomen) DO control our weather. They just like to confuse us sometimes by telling us it’ll be sunny when they’ve already made sure it will rain.
400daystil40
January 13, 2013 at 22:14
hehehe!!!