Navigating Through Storms

Over the course of the last 10,000 plus miles I've trekked, I've come across some gnarly storms that made me stop in my tracks and wait the weather out. This storm I observed on my way to the Black Hills of South Dakota in 2024 was tame compared to past adventures. During last summer's expedition, I think the most memorable storm I drove through was along highway 70 in Southeast New Mexico on my way to Roswell. I started the day in Oklahoma to cloudy skies most of the way to Clovis. The skies wouldn't open until I left Portales, and when it started to rain it poured. It was seemingly endless. Whenever I could see the end of the storm another wall of rain would form and douse the road in front of me. It was this way for the remaining 90 miles to Roswell. This is the only time I've feared that I would become stranded in the middle of nowhere. It was raining so much that I couldn't see the lanes on the highway. That should've been my sign to get off the road, but I was making excellent timing for what was scheduled to be a 13-hour day on the road. My pride got the best of me here, and all because I wanted to keep time on my side.

I made it to Roswell safely, though it might've been wise to stop in one of the two towns between Portales and Roswell while the storm was roaring across the rural countryside. I don't know how much rain fell in that storm, but it was enough for the underside of my car to be submerged at various points on Roswell's main drag into town. Unfortunately, this storm would only be the beginning of a line of storms over the next week that would cause widespread flood damage in southern New Mexico and west central Texas. In hindsight, not stopping between Portales and Roswell might've been a good thing considering Roswell's streets were just starting to flood when I got into town. I don't think there was necessarily a right or wrong choice to make on that stretch of highway 70. I was the only driver on the road, which felt eerie considering I was heading to a museum about extraterrestrial beings and UFOs. Since I was the only driver on the road, I didn't think I was putting anyone else in harm's way by being on the road. At the same time, I just as easily could've been driving into a lake forming in the middle of the road. This is the only time the thought of being stranded in the middle of nowhere has crossed my mind, and part of me accepted that it would happen no matter what decision I made. 

When we face storms head on, there are times when we have to continue pushing forward in order to get to safety. Other times we have to stop while we're ahead and find shelter in order to prevent ourselves from going further into danger. During those times, all we can do is wait for the storm to pass. I mean this in a literal sense of the analogy as well as in the journey of life that we all go through. Life has its storms that we have to navigate through in order to keep ourselves safe. Sometimes that means we have to pull over and wait for the rain to disperse and the winds to calm. To add to this, sometimes we have to stop and wait against our own timing. I don't know about you, but this is something I struggle with daily. I tend to get into this cycle of planning too far ahead into the future without considering other factors, like getting time off of work when I want it for example. Just because I want to plan a trip in June doesn't mean I'll get the time off to do it then. I may have to settle for October, and where I want to go is prone to snowstorms that time of year. And snow is not my cup of tea.

When I was 19, my life turned upside down in the blink of an eye. I was set to head away from home for college three hours away, free from the life of small-town U.S.A. and onto the big bright lights of the city full of endless opportunities. I thought nothing was going to stop me over the next four years. Three days before I was set to leave, my left lung collapsed unexpectedly while I was out with friends. The medical term for this is called a spontaneous pneumothorax. I went from enjoying a shake at Sonic to gasping for air like a fish out of water while my best friend rushed through town to get me to the emergency room in the middle of the night. That night, I thought my life was over. Nothing seemed certain anymore. Even if by some miracle I made it through that night, what was going to happen the next day? Or the day after? All of the plans I was making and wishing for to come into fruition seemed as if they were never going to happen. 

I didn't die that night like I thought I would. I don't say that to be dramatic either, I thought my time was up as I was gasping for air in the emergency room, especially when the doctors were bouncing around the idea of surgery to put a tube in my chest. Luckily, things never got to that point. The doctors thought more damage would happen if they cut me open, so they decided to let it heal on its own which allowed me to proceed with moving to Denver for college on time. That's not to say the road has been easy since that incident. I'm prone to respiratory illnesses as a result, which tend to linger for weeks if I don't get proper treatment in a timely manner. The respiratory illnesses don't strike me down as often as they did during the first year following the medical incident, but when they do come upon me it knocks me out for more than a week. The only effective treatment I've found to combat the lengthy bouts of respiratory illness is to stay inside for multiple days at a time, which is nearly impossible unless you have a remote job you can work from home. But I have stayed in for multiple days when the doctor has ordered me to do so. Like I said, sometimes we have to pull over and wait for the storm to pass.

If you're navigating through a storm currently, remember that it's okay to pull over and wait for things to settle. You don't need to push through every storm in the moment. Sometimes we can't avoid the storm because it changes directions like we try to do when we see it coming. Face your storms one step at a time and don't be afraid to wait for the storm to calm. Every storm will pass over with a little time and avoiding it won't make it go away any sooner. You have what it takes to navigate through the storms in life.