Seeing Some Blue in the Grey Skies

Seeing Some Blue in the Grey Skies

It's that time of year in the UK, when the British like to make their annual trip to the seaside. They live in hope that somehow, by the time they reach the beach, the sun will be shining, they'll be able to expose their bodies as if they were on a tropical beach and the sea will be as warm as a bath.

Last week I joined my two closest school friends and their cousin, along with all our children (8 girls in total) on a day at the seaside. We visited Borth, a little seaside town near Aberystwyth in Mid West Wales. My friends assured me that Borth had a beautiful, long, sandy beach where our children could go on a donkey ride. My only re-collection of being in this part of Wales was when I visited Aberystwyth University at 17 years old. I stood up in the lecture hall full of students and introduced myself as 'Janet from a school in Three Cocks.'  The roar of laughter among the students was deafening and it was one of those moments when I wished I could have been engulfed by the floor.

We drove in convoy over the mountain roads to Borth. It started to rain which wasn't the best of signs, but we were optimistic that the sun would be shining by the seaside. When we arrived, my friend jumped out of the car to see what the weather was like.

"Brr, it's bracing," my one friend commented as she hastily jumped back into the car. "I think it's too cold for the donkeys and the tide is in so there's no beach."

I couldn't believe that we had travelled for at least an hour and thirty minutes on roads that twisted like a snake, to discover no beach or donkeys! Finally, we plucked up the courage to take a walk around Borth. After two minutes, we quickly took cover from the cold in the bus stop.

"I normally like the seaside," my other friend commented, as we all huddled together to shield ourselves from the fierce wind.

The sky turned a darker shade of grey. The rain from the mountains had joined us. Searching for more shelter, we headed for the penny arcade where we managed to relieve ourselves of all our spare change. Having won nothing, we broke into our notes and bought coffees / hot chocolates in the local cafe.

By the time we had finished our hot drinks, it had stopped raining and we could see some blue in the grey sky. With typical British stoicism when planning a British picnic, we carried our sandwiches, picnic rugs, deckchairs, buckets and spades and dinghy down to the beach. After numerous take away cups of hot tea, sheltering among the rocks in an attempt to warm up and watching the children (who seemed to have no concept of being cold) swimming in the sea, the sky finally turned pure blue at six o'clock in the evening as if it had been like that all day. My friends mocked me as I boldly dipped my feet in the sea. It was worth sticking it out and looking for the blue in the sky, even though it took the whole day for the sun to shine and for me to go for a paddle.

In life too, it may seem like there's a lot of grey around, but as Helen Keller quoted:-

"When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us."



What can you do to focus on the 'blue', no matter how small it may appear at first? You'll be surprised how quickly the 'blue' spreads when you look out for it.

To find out more about NoLimits personal and professional development services, please click on the NoLimits link on this blog.

Janet