Lets Talk About the Weather

I know I have mentioned this in a prior post, but if you aren't a frequent visitor of the state of Indiana, there is something you should know about it.  The weather is about as unpredictable as an episode of Game of Thrones.  It is a lot less gorey and inappropriate for young audiences than the show but the plot twists are just as drastic.  Sometimes I go to work in the morning with the sun shining, 85 degrees and beautiful, only to find a torrential downpour by lunch and then dang near tornado activity by the time I go home for the day. (today)  You never know what you are going to get.  I could make a Forrest Gump reference here but I will refrain.  There is also the fun fact that along with elevators and heights, tornados are my biggest fear.  You may be thinking, "Chloe, how could tornados be your biggest fear if you have never experienced one and they rarely happen in your area? That is totally illogical!"  Well condescending blog reader, they just are.  Every time I hear the wind pick up outside I assume that it will be turning into a funnel cloud within moments.  I check the weather channel like a mad person and freak when I see green, yellow, and the always terrifying reds and purple splatter painted across the radar.  I'm that person who will go sleep in the basement in the middle of the night because I can't sleep when I hear the storms a-brewin' outside. (sorry for that random hillbilly moment.) It is kind of ridiculous.  I realize that I'm crazy.  But the first step is accepting you have a problem right? Right.  I think that the biggest reason why they scare me is because  I have absolutely no control over them.  I can't predict them, and even if I could, all I can do is cower in fear and hope a tornado doesn't swoop me up like the Wizard of Oz.  When I think of it like this, it doesn't seem quite so crazy.  Because I think deep down, everyone gets scared of the things they have no power over. Of the things they just cannot understand or control. And it causes so many issues and arguments for us.  It seems to be the root of a lot of those "controversial topics" we like to spend all of our time stressing and fighting over.  Whether it is about religion, science, abortion, war, mental illness, sexuality, race... anything.  I think that a lot of the time, it comes down to a fear of the unknown.  And it is understandable.  It is hard to accept what we don't understand.  It is hard to grasp something when it lies out of our reach.  But maybe, if we found a way to stop getting so hung up on the things we don't have control over, if we could just accept that no matter how much time we put into arguing and fighting with each other about these issues,  maybe we could learn to live our lives.  And watch these things that we can't control or that we don't understand play out how they will.  If we could stop cowering under blankets in the basement, watching the radar through our fingers while we cover our eyes, as if its a horror movie, we could ride out the storm and figure out our next step once the rain has ceased.  Because if you spend your life cowering in fear, or retaliating against things that are "different," things you don't understand, instead of embracing change and uncertainty, then you aren't really living.       (This all being said, if tornado sirens go off, you should seriously take cover!)