Stop Dressing For Yesterday's Weather

You would think that after 52 years on this earth, I would have learned this lesson by now, but alas, here I am.

I was born and raised in Oklahoma City, and have lived here most of my life, with a brief detour to Austin, Texas in the late 1990's where we came back to Oklahoma with great memories, lots of new friends, a Masters degree from UT for my husband, and a three month old baby girl. So, I have spent 50 of my 52 years living with Oklahoma weather, and I should know the drill.

However, as I walked outside this morning in my sweater and slacks ready to meet the day, the Oklahoma wind laughed at me. Yesterday's sunny 55 was now a partly cloudy 33 with a more than brisk wind. 

Once again, I had left the house ready to face yesterday's weather. Why do I still continue to do this, I wondered. It's not like I haven't lived with the reality of Oklahoma weather all of my life.

Will Rogers, the great American satirist who was from Oklahoma once said, "If you don't like the weather in Oklahoma, just wait a minute." And that is not an exaggeration. 

So, how does this Oklahoma girl keep getting caught by surprise?

Well, it's a process. 

I get so focused on where I need to be or what I need to have once I get there.

I have a brain injury from the surgery and related treatments I had for brain cancer 23 years ago. So, a lot of extra planning and extra tricks have to go into my day just for me to navigate.  

I look at what my calendar holds. I gather everything I will need for each thing, often the night before.

I get everything together that I will need for when I arrive at the destination.

I set ten minute timers one right after the other most mornings to make sure I don't get off track as I get ready. 

I do this to make sure I will leave in plenty of time. 

I pull up the Google Maps directions so I know which way I am going to go and how long it will take me to get there to doublecheck I am leaving myself enough time.

Add on to this the other things we all have to do in a morning just to leave the house, kids, pets, spilled coffee, etc., and the sense of relief you feel as you close the door behind you is like how you feel as you finish a really long hike or run. I've arrived. I'm outside the  house. Success.

Then the wind hits you and takes your breath away. This is not the day you spent all that time getting ready for. This is not the weather that matches the outfit you just spent half an hour or more finding and putting on. You have been dropped into a new reality, a new set of factors you hadn't taken the time to consider, NOW.

The human brain can only process one moment at a time. NOW. 

So, in all of the planning, all of the dressing, all of the preparing, the now moments that our brains are experiencing are in our houses, in our bedrooms, in our kitchens and the only information our brains have in making the choices we make each step is based on our memories, our calendars, our tasks ahead of time. 

Our brains don't experience the reality of the world outside until we actually step outside. And even if we check the weather on our phone, like I did, we don't always see the full reality of what the weather actually is right now. The weather we have to be ready for as we walk out that door. 

So, tomorrow, my plan is still to do all the things I did today, but to also step outside, breathe, feel the now, and then decide what I need to do to adjust to the weather of that moment. 

The good news this morning was that I had forgotten my phone in the house. So, I was able to grab my coat when I went back in. Going back in for just a coat would have been okay, but having to go in for the phone made it feel necessary to retreat back inside.

Stop dressing for yesterday's weather, or even for whatever the weather was when you first started reading this. Stop. Breathe. See what all your senses are telling you, and then gird yourself with whatever you need to face this moment, the only real moment, NOW. 

Love you like crazy!

Suzann