Life has a way of throwing snowballs in your face some times, doesn’t it? Just when you’ve nailed down the weekly schedule, planned who's going where and with who. A surprise snow day can send everything barreling down the hill. Like the cartoon character of my childhood shows, getting bigger as it goes, taking everything in its path with it. There it took the schedule, then your routine, maybe your support person, and more. Barreling and building right at you at the bottom of the hill you thought you had just climb! Bam!! It hits you and chaos ensues, then frustration, maybe anger, or overwhelming stress. As a Wife, Mom, and small business owner, I used to let these last-minute changes, overwhelm my vibes. Thinking that they disrupted my carefully crafted plans for the day and allowing them to cause unnecessary stress. However, I found that embracing unexpected moments—like snow days—could lead to what i actually needed, and honestly in the back of my mind was really wanting.
In this post, I’ll share my journey from groaning at the sight of snowflakes, school cancellations, closures, and everything else that comes with the spine chilling, white fluffy stuff (along with all those other moments in life that change up your day last minute). To celebrating and appreciating these spontaneous changes . So grab a cup of Tea and read on to find out how you can find the bright side when life shifts unexpectedly!
The Realization "Hi, It's Me. I'm the Stress, It's Me."
Last-second changes use to stress me out, or rather I thought they did. For a long time, I couldn’t see the reality of choice, and the one I was willing making. As a wife, mom, and small business owner, every minute of the day is often packed full of things needing done and they are usually planned down to the last second. I would scrutinize each item on my to-do lists, the one on physical paper along with the one running around inside head and then the calendar, thinking that if everything goes smoothly, my life would feel manageable.
First, my phone beeps.. school announces a snow day, then beep, and ting, notifications of clients starting to cancel, and I start scrambling. I swear I could literally feel the cold from outside creep into my bones as the overwhelm would start to flood in. No school meant no time for errands or meetings that needed my attention, the random thought of an added day at the end of the school year runs wailing around in the back of my mind. Meal planning last minute, as Panic sank in. Thinking about the possibility of chaos in my day. Will I be able to focus on the things I need to at work? Would the kids argue or constantly need something? Would I have enough activities to keep them entertained or would they get bored? I was bracing for the worst-case scenario. As I'm speed walking down the hall, to prep for the day. My inner dialog running over anything and everything. Suddenly a random thought comes along with the others. "What's in a choice?" As if to be sarcastic to myself, I reply "Control, (insert eyeroll) to have a choice and the ability to choose, you have control." Continuing the conversation with the voice that seems to always be in the background, full of wisdom and insight, and patiently waiting for the opportunity to instill one more nugget of wisdom into my life. I state, "But remember there are things out of our control. I don't control the weather, the school's decision, or whether anyone will even come to the business with this weather. So obviously where's the choice in that for me?" Bing, a light bulb shining blindingly above my head. The real realization that if there was school, if my clients were all planning to be here, and if the business was so busy I couldn't even take a bathroom break. I would literally most likely flip the script and be overwhelmed that my kids and clients had to be out on the roads, were they slick or even safe? It's cold now I have to go out in that, crap, and I can't find my gloves! Ugh, why couldn't they have cancelled school like everyone else would have popped into my head. It would be nice to have a extra day with the kids, and I could actually use a slow day at the business to catch up on some things. See, there it is, that's the choice. My Choice, I was choosing to give the only control I actually had over to something that no one ever has control over. The weather. To be quite frank, I was choosing a crap attitude in both scenarios. All because I couldn't control the weather, or the choices other people had to make over the weather they couldn't control either. It hit me- we all are just trying to do life here- the best we can in every situation, so why am I letting myself do the worst I can. Choose different Kelley, it's your choice.
Unfolding the Kinks of My Misperception
As I took a step back to choose different, I decided to list off any positive things that a snow day ahead would bring. I took the other scenario of what if they didn't call a snow day and I Chose to turn those into the positives. Like everyone including my kids and clients are safe and warm at home. The school cares about my kids and wants to keep them safe. I really could use a laid back day since I have been working really hard lately, later hours and missing out on spending time with my kids. Suddenly recalling how my sisters and I would get up early to watch the red ribbon of school names rolling across the screen. Our faces as close to the tv without getting told to back up or we would go blind that close to the screen. Wondering why our school had to start with the letter S, and they didn't make it that round. Meaning we had to watch it all over again with a mix of excitement and dread, hoping for an update so we could enjoy a snow day. I somewhat reluctantly looked up from my thoughts, and I was greeted by a bright, swirling winter scene. The snow was untouched, the light hitting the ground just right to make it look like it had a covering of soft white glitter. I remembered the excitement on those mornings when we would see the same scene, before we went running to watch that red ribbon fingers crossed. Then flooded with excitement again as the name finally appeared on the screen. I knew then two things for sure, one I wanted to feel like that again about a snow day, and two I absolutely did not want to be the reason why my kids experience less than joyful.
In that moment, I chose to shift with the change and be excited for the unknown. I realized I could view this situation as a disruption or embrace it as a wonderful opportunity for not just me but also my kids.
Embracing The Shift, Choose Spontaneity
Trust me when I say I am extremely spontaneous, love living in the moment, full on. However when I already set an expectation, or choose structure for a specific thing or time. I am stubborn, and Embracing spontaneity can be difficult, especially when your expectations of the moment were completely on the other side of this shift in reality. This time I decided to just lean into the unexpected, let go of needing to know, and remind myself that life doesn’t always follow a neat plan but it can create the most amazing experiences when we let it. I started some hot chocolate, made a list of movies to choose from, created a playlist to listen to and got excited that I could try out that new soup recipe I've been wanting to make. Everyone was still asleep so jumped into the things needing my attention with the business with excitement and focus. Deciding that I would let the day lead us along as it seemed fit.
We had hot cocoa, soup, a few customers stop in with plenty of time to have really great conversations. Enjoyed some movies, baked some sweet treats, I took a short nap! I found my worries, anxiety, stress where just gone. There was no time or space in this day for those.
The shift gave me moments to be present with my family rather than stressing over what I couldn't control. In fact I didn't want the control anyways, the only thing I wanted to be responsible for was choosing how to respond, react, and shift so I could embrace it all with gratitude and joy. The choice let me discover that this snow day was not a disruption; it was a beautiful gift that renewed my spirit and let me connect with my family, a few amazing customers, and most importantly myself.
Reassessing Perception
Let’s be honest: life, parenting, and work these days often puts alot of pressure on us to be productive all the time, keep it together, and do all the things... all the things. But what if we let ourselves step away from the never-ending pressure to be on point, to tackle the "to-do" list, or to do this or that? What if we let go and embraced it all.
Changing my perspective on this last minute change proved crucial. Instead of focusing solely on what I thought I would be doing, I saw that a snow day gave us a chance to reconnect as a family, me time to focus on things I had struggled to accomplish, and and opportunity to focus on myself for a moment. I often see people on social media going through that same process of a choice, of choosing stress. Creating stress with thoughts, i see them frustrated one day because all the other schools cancelled except theirs questioning if the school wants their kids safe. Then Turning the next time to being upset and stressed because school was cancelled, and now they have more work on their hands. When we get in this mode there is not ever going to be a right decision made because what the focus for control on is not what one has control over. Whether its an extra day at the end of the year, extra work at home, or worrying about travel. It's endless and the reality is regardless of one or the other, both scenarios are only crappy if we choose to think that way and focus on creating more chaos and stress. In the grand scheme of life it's a single moment that can either be stressful or a great experience. Why choose different? Well, You don't have to, the choice is yours. Only you have the control of your perception. You control your thoughts, and your responses. But I do promise, if you step back and take a moment to see how much your choice in your thoughts dictate and create your reality. Sometimes even contradicting one another along the way, which realistically makes no sense. It can empower you to embrace the change instead of dreading it, let you experience something completely new, and allow you to let go of expectations over things you don't and won't ever have control over.
Discovering New
This single snow day could ignite new interests in your family. Allow deep connection that a busy life usually is disrupting. You might even find yourself savoring the little joys, like sipping hot chocolate and watching snowflakes drift down. It can open doors for discussions and creativity that daily routines can stifle.
By opening myself to embrace these spontaneous changes, I learned to welcome new possibilities. Just as adventure awaits on a snow day, embracing last-minute changes can uncover new hobbies, unique experiences, new family traditions, and more that we might not have discovered otherwise.
Snow days and other spontaneous events can be refreshing if we learn to let go of our rigid plans.
Let’s welcome life’s little surprises and see them as opportunities instead of interruptions. Remember, snow days can create memories that last much longer than any perfectly arranged day ever could.
So the next time snowflakes begin to fall or a surprise change appears on the horizon, I encourage you to set aside your worries. Embrace the chaos and remember what your choices are. Who knows? You might just uncover the joy hiding behind a simple snow day!
Stay Rooted, Keep Growing
~Kelley
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