by Douglas L. Anderson, PsyD
 

“Rain, rain, go away.  Come again another day!”  Just two weeks of warm sun, decent wind, and a good drying out would have gone a long way toward getting spring field work done.  Of course, we don’t get to control the weather.  Instead, we learn to cope with whatever weather comes our way.  In farming and rural communities in particular we learn to come to terms with the reality of life’s risks.  If we do this well we discover that leaning in to the experience and appreciating (or at least tolerating) the challenge has a way of shaping us, growing our coping ability, and deepening our own sense of our humanity. 

Life is a lot like farming.  It has its seasons (birth, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, later adult life, death), and each season has unpredictable weather that we must come to terms with – times of joy and times of sorrow, times of work and high productivity and times of rest, play, and rejuvenation, active times and sedentary times, periods of health and stamina, and periods of illness and injury, family connections and family distance.

We don’t go into difficult periods excited about what we are going to learn from the journey, but we can do our best to lean in to whatever life throws our way and attempt to discover something more about what it means to be a human being living in the world we have at this moment.  We can learn to depend on one another (our community, church, friends, and family) to help us get through the night, and we can look to the help of a good therapist when we need some extra help.  As we face the “weather” life sends our way we want to move toward greater emotional and relational health.  We want to love well and live full lives.

If you want someone to walk with you through the challenges you face, our therapists can meet you where you are and offer some extra help and hope. To schedule an appointment with one of our Sioux Falls Psychological or River Counseling therapists, please call 605-334-2696.