(20 hours later, this is posted, but it goes with the theme of going with the flow of life's chaos):
I had plans to work today. Yes, it?s Sunday.
Never the less, I had an exciting, but busy week and didn?t manage to get everything done and I?m determined to start each week not carrying over any unnecessary work or stress. It doesn?t mean I was going to work for hours, but I had a plan.
In the business, I also didn?t get to do the blog post that I wanted to do, so that was planned for right about now. (Although the plot thickens and although I?m typing the post at 7:30pm, I have no idea when I will be able to let it go live).
As I was settling in to work, my bestie called and he?s in a dilemma. By some freak of nature, his house is the only one on his block that doesn?t have electricity and it?s not something that can be fixed overnight. His fridge is full, he?s not feeling well and it?s no fun being stuck in a home with no electricity. So plans changed and we spent the day together.
He packed my deep freeze full and we headed out to find some kind of battery powered things to make this process more bearable. We spoke about life and how it?s all changing, mainly focusing on the electricity crisis that we are facing in South Africa and that we need to be thinking about being self-sufficient anyway.
When home, I unplugged all my so that Greggie could charge his, because I would be fine with power through the night.
We planned dinner and I while cooking a warm chicken topping to go with the salad ingredients from his fridge, I turned on the oven to cook the meat that I had brought to last me for about 3 weeks. You see, I?ve figured out that one of the keys to maintaining this healthy relationship I have with my body is to have food that is ready for me to just warm on the days when it?s too crazy to cook and I usually would grab something unhealthy from the shops or the nearest Chinese take-away.
A massive storm brewed over Joburg and it was an electric display of Mother Nature at her finest. Petrified that something would be struck, I unplugged the last of my electrical equipment, including my laptop and we cooked in this electric light display.
Onions sizzling and ready for the chicken to be added to the pan ? and then ? DARKNESS!!!!
The power was off!
You know when it?s the whole neighbourhood. We have gotten used to checking for the signs because of all the load shedding that we have, so we knew.
There went the dinner plans. There went my idea of charging everything I needed, later. There went both of us without power.
Through my Project Me decade of consciously watching myself and the world around me, I have taken note of what happens when we make plans and then life gets in the way. Social media makes it very easy to distinguish the adaptors from those who struggle with change, but now we have run out of options an there?s nothing left to do but ADAPT and ACCEPT.
It?s part of a bigger picture and if we watch what is happening to the world around us, it?s inevitable that we are going to have to learn to survive what is, in the moment. Today we be without power or being evacuated from our homes because of a storm, the train system could fail us or the internet could crash and we?ll have to carry on. We have to make a plan, without becoming bitter and twisted and blaming the system.
We are the system, because of every choice we have made as a collective, along the way.
Unless you an eternal optimist or your head is buried in the sand, there?s no denying that something major has shifted in the world and something has to give, eventually. Who is going to make it through without losing their minds or ability to function in the world.
Only those who adapt and accept.
So dinner plans changed. We packed away the chicken and scrummaged through the fridge to find what we didn?t have to cook. It may be a simple example of having smoked chicken, but the Universe supported the process and we made another plan.
Huddled around an emergency light (because we know we need them) we at a divine meal and watched the spectacular light display that has been going on for nearly two hours now.
My phone?s dead, laptop dying and my additional power supplies are with my bestie, who needs them much more than I do ? so I accept and adapt.
I believe it?s going to become one of the most fundamental disciplines of self that we have and that in a few years, we are going to be grateful that a lack of electricity helped us think differently and made us more self-sufficient, calm and adaptable human being.
Power to the people!!
Love it! Power to the people indeed 😉