Unexpected darkness sheds some new light!

It started out like many evenings. We were on the Internet doing some research. The TV was going softly in the background. The AC was providing “white noise” on a hot and humid summer evening. But all that came to an abrupt halt when the power went out in our home. A glance outside revealed our whole neighborhood had also lost power. Our home became very quiet – for a short time. Soon heavy rain began to fall. Then the blaring noise of weather sirens went off outside. At the same time, we received jarring sound alerts from our cell phones, warning us of the possibility of a tornado in our area.

We each grabbed a flashlight because we were quickly losing the light from outside. In response to the warning, we went to the lower level of our home with our laptop computers and cell phones securely in hand. This shows the importance of technology in our lives these days since these devices hold lots of information and pictures.

We learned several life lessons from this unexpected power outage. First, we looked for our weather radio but it was not as easy to find as we thought it would be. Lesson one – Be able to find emergency items in a hurry without taking a lot of time searching for them when time may be limited. This turned out to be a good “practice run” for helping us get more prepared for the next time any emergency should occur.

When the weather alert expired, we lit some candles. The flickering candlelight provided a wonderful soothing ambience to the room. Even though earlier our adrenalin had received a jolt from the cell phone alerts and the outside sirens, we felt a sense of peace and calm in our new found quiet place. It was very relaxing to be enjoying each other’s company in the warm glow of candlelight instead of working in front of cold computer screens. Lesson two – Ancient philosopher Epictetus said, “It’s not what happens to you but how you react to it that matters.” We found a way to actually enjoy the darkness. The electricity came back on after about 90 minutes. We had mixed feelings. We were glad to have power restored but we also enjoyed the quiet interlude. Lesson three – We’ll have more candlelight evenings whether the power is out or not. Who would have thought the unexpected darkness would be such an enlightening experience!

A few days later, we talked to some people to find out what they did during the power-outage.
We met with Laurie Pohlen who said, “Since it was almost dark, I started gathering up some candles, not knowing how long the electricity would be off, and finding a flashlight. Then my daughter and I started looking at our cell phones to see what was really happening – was it a tornado watch or warning. I even went outside and looked at the sky, which I think you aren’t supposed to do. Eventually we did go downstairs. The electricity came on fairly quickly. It was kind of nice not to have to be watching TV and to just chat. I’m very concerned about tornadoes because my family farm in Iowa was taken by a tornado, years back. When they tell you to take cover, it’s a good thing to do.”

Then we talked with Steve Bode, who was doing some yard work. He shared what he did when the power went out. “The first thing was getting out of my electrically-powered recliner, crawling out of it. The next thing was to find all the flashlights and find out the batteries that are five years old don’t put out much light. Then we tried to find something to light candles with. Fortunately, the power came on fairly soon so we didn’t really need all that stuff.”

We thanked people for sharing their experiences. In this article, we have shared how this unexpected darkness shed some new light on life lessons for us. What about you? We would enjoy hearing your experiences and life lessons.

Here’s a challenge: We encourage you to take time now to assess how prepared you are for an emergency or loss of power. Get what you need to be ready and safe. Then, if it occurs, make the best of the situation. Maybe you can also plan some candlelit times even when the power is working fine. We invite you to let us know how you plan for unexpected events that happen. We also hope you enjoy viewing the related video by going to the link provided.

Chanhassen residents Doug and Lynn Nodland are owners of The Balance Center. They can be contacted at WeCare@SharingLifesLessons.com

© Doug and Lynn Nodland 2017 Articles and videos may be shared in their entirety with attribution.