As the saying goes, “April showers bring May flowers,” and in my neck of the woods, this April has been no exception.
One recent rainy day, when things were feeling particularly gloomy and disagreeable, I was reflecting on how such days felt when I was undergoing treatment. In general, I’m a sunny day means sunny disposition sort of person. If I wake up to a bright, sun-shiny day, I’m already in a better mood.
But even great days like a sunny one can be tough when you’re undergoing chemotherapy treatment.
On this recent day, as I looked out my window and watched the rain fall down on still-leafless trees that looked like dark, unmoving soldiers staring back at me, I reminded myself that even this gray day was not so bad.
What was bad was three years ago when at this very same time, I was just beginning my battle against cancer and starting chemo treatment.
These days, whenever I find myself “woe is me-ing,” I remember how far I’ve come and how the alternative could have been so much worse. So that’s what I did again on this rainy day, and my attitude improved at least a little.
But I also thought back to those days, the days I was undergoing chemotherapy, and it was raining. What could be good about those days, you might wonder?
I decided to make a list of my rainy-day coping mechanisms:
1. Spring rainfall smells good
Though it doesn’t only rain in the springtime, spring rain carries a certain smell along with it.
It smells earthy, of rebirth and the eventual green to come. I certainly wasn’t going to go out and play in the rain while undergoing treatment, but I could sit by an open window, let these new life smells penetrate my nose, and appreciate the day a little more.
2. Rainy days are a good excuse to lay on the couch and binge watch a show, take in a funny movie, or just do nothing
Though some troopers barely call out of work while going through chemo, if you can and your circumstances allow it, sometimes just doing very little is the thing you need to do while undergoing treatment. You can use a rainy day as a yet another good excuse to bundle up under a blanket and just vegetate.
3. When it’s raining, everyone’s hair looks a mess!
That’s true even if anyone has time to look up from under the raindrops they’re running through!
One of the great things about a rainy day is that fewer people are paying attention to what you – or anyone else – looks like. Rainy days actually normalize bad hair days, and that in turn helps you feel a little more normal when you don’t have hair, too.
4. A lot of people wear hats and headcovers on rainy days
Just as a cold weather day encourages more people to cover up their heads, so does a rainy day. Some people use umbrellas to protect themselves from the rain, but others don’t want to bother having to carry around the umbrella once they come indoors.
Instead, they wear all manner of rain headgear, from attractive hats and headscarves to simple baseball caps.
And once again, the fact that many more people are out and about wearing something to cover their heads makes you feel more normal.
5. Rain is symbolic
Rain is water, and water is cleansing.
I took this water symbolism to heart. I am an Aquarius, the water bearer zodiac sign.
I used to practice a form of meditative visualization where I imagined forceful waves of water washing away the cancer cells. On days it wasn’t raining, I would listen to a ready-made ocean waves playlist; on rainy days, I only needed to picture in my mind’s eye the rain doing the job of my imaginary water waves.
I’d like to believe it worked as I’d hoped it would. By the end of my treatment, I was declared cancer-free!
6. Water is the key of all life
I don’t like endless days of rain anymore than most people, but I definitely appreciate its critical importance.
Water is what makes Earth, Earth. We are known as “The Blue Planet” for a reason. Every life form here depends on water and rain is one of the most important ways we replenish Earth’s water supply, and therefore life itself.
When I look at the world around me – from my precious birds to the trees they live in and the babbling brooks or waterways where they thrive,
I remember that it’s all fueled by water.
That we are all made up of water.
Instead of complaining about the rain, I am grateful for it!