Being Still

Last night I took the girls to the concert of the year, their words, not mine. Those who know me, know I love a good concert. I was not looking forward to this one, other than making the girls happy. The concert begins, both opening acts complete followed by the entire stadium advised to take shelter, as a severe storm with heavy winds is coming through. We stood in the small space between the open area and corridor for over an hour, wall-to-wall people, nowhere to move. At one point I realized this might be what it feels like to be stuck in an elevator.

Rather than getting upset or going into panic mode, I decided to practice being still. Just counting, taking deep breaths, and ignoring the storm and all the chatter around me. Once we were instructed back to our seats, I found myself overwhelmingly calm.

I share all this because often we are put in situations where we particularly don’t want to be, waiting in a long line, or sitting in traffic and we can allow that situation to stress us and cause anxiety. There is a real opportunity for all of us to just be still in those moments.