Trying to Reason With Hurricane Season

Are you a Jimmy Buffet fan? A full-on Parrothead? Or maybe you’re someone who never understood the appeal of a man who wore loud shirts, shorts, and performed barefoot in front of thousands of adoring fans?

It doesn’t matter where you land on the Beach Balladeer’s spectrum of fandom, you’ve probably lived through a figurative hurricane season or two in your life, and maybe even been in the path of one or two literal hurricanes. It’s Hurricane Season 2024 from now through the end of October, and again this year, there will be people who will try to reason with hurricane season. Literal hurricanes, yes – and figurative ones, too.

Let’s use this Jimmy Buffett song as a springboard to talk about the very human trait of trying to control things that are completely uncontrollable. When a particularly stubborn person realizes their attempts at control have failed, they often try their hand at bargaining or even digging in their heels, adamantly refusing to accept the reality of their circumstances. This can be deadly in a hurricane and can be devastating in non-weather-related circumstances as well.

What sorts of circumstances?

• Loss of a job
• Loss of a marriage or long-term relationship
• Loss of a loved one

You get the idea and you’ve probably had a friend who has railed against one or more of these types of figurative hurricanes in their lives. You might even have been their sounding board, confidante, and shoulder to cry on. It’s exhausting trying to help someone who’s grasping for control when the situation is clearly out of their control.

When you have a friend who’s stuck in this self-destructive pattern, you can gently point out to them that it wasn’t their decision to break whatever’s broken, so it’s not in their power to fix it. When it’s you who’s trying to reason with hurricane season, here are three episodes of the world’s second-shortest podcast to help lead you back to safe harbor:

Are you looking for a way to stop spiraling? Here’s a Tiny Bite for that!

Need to learn to control your feelings better? Here’s a Tiny Bite for that!

Want a quick way to banish stress any time you’d like? Here’s a Tiny Bite for that!

In any hurricane season, literal or figurative, it’s important to remember that nearly everything in your life is outside of your control. You are in control of how you choose to feel about what happens, how you behave while it’s happening, and how you move through and past what happened.

Since this article is premised on a Jimmy Buffett song, let’s use another one to close the point. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Jimmy wrote a song he called "a quiet gesture” to the survivors of the New Orleans disaster – Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On. Just as there’s no way to reason with hurricane season, there’s no advantage in trying to figure out why something happened. Acceptance gives you the ability to shift your focus to deal with the current situation and find ways to move on.

“According to my watch the time is ‘now’
The past is dead and gone
Don't try to shake it, just nod your head
Breathe in, breathe out, move on”
written by Jimmy Buffett and Matt Betton, 2005

Wags,
Sandy

PS...want more? Subscribe to the Mind, Body, Soul Sessions podcast, a weekly mental spa treatment for your total self!