How to Sleep When the Wind Blows
The last two nights have been windy. Not just a little, a lot! As I was lying in bed awake, listening to the shuttering of my windows, I remembered this blog post that I wrote in March at the very beginning of the coronavirus. Since then, the unbelievable has happened with more trials and turbulence than ever could be imagined in a short six months. But the story’s message remains true–prepare for the worse by focusing on what is in your control, and then believe in your ability to handle whatever comes your way. And I’ve learned one more tip to good sleep, remember you don’t have to do it alone. Weathering storms is easier when we do it together. Hope you like the reminder, too!
As news of the coronavirus spreads, the stock market bounces from low to high, and the elections heat up, we can easily be overwhelmed with worry and anxiety for our health, wealth, and well-being. Consider the following story as an example of how to manage these uncertainties:
Many years ago, the old country fair in parts of England was, besides being the place of exhibition for farm products, [the place] where employer and employee met. . . .
Farmer Smith wanted a boy to work on his farm. He was doing some interviewing of candidates. A thoughtful looking lad of about sixteen attracted him. The boy was confronted with a rather abrupt question from the gruff old agriculturist. “What can you do?” The boy swung back at him in the same style, “I can sleep when the wind blows.”
. . . Notwithstanding he didn’t particularly like the answer to a civil question he got from the teenager, there was something about the gray eyes of that fellow that got under his skin.
He approached the lad again with the same question, “What did you say you could do?” Again, the same answer bounced back at him, “I can sleep when the wind blows.”
Mr. Smith was still disgusted with such an answer and went to other parts of the fair to look into the faces of other youngsters who might want a job on a farm, but there was something about that answer he got that stuck to him like glue. First thing he knew his feet were carrying him back to meet the steady gaze of those deliberate eyes of the boy with such strange language.
“What did you say you could do?” for the third time he thundered at the farm help. For the third time, too, the farmer got the same answer. . . . “I can sleep when the wind blows.”
“Get into the wagon—we’ll try you out.” . . .
One night, Farmer Smith was waked about 2:00 a.m. with what might be a cyclone. It seemed that gusts from the north in only a few minutes developed with intensity to threaten the roof over his head. The trees cracked and noises outside turned the nervous system of our friend upside down. The speed he used to jump into his trousers was only outdone by the lightning as it broke up the darkness outside. With shoes half-laced he rushed out into the farmyard to see if anything on the premises was still intact, but he would need the services on a wicked night like this of that new boy. He called up the stairs of the attic where the latter slept, but the response was the healthy lung heaving of a healthy lad. He went half the way up the stairs and thundered again, but only a snore echoed back. In excitement, he went to the boy’s bed and did everything but tear the bed clothes from the youth, but the lad slept on.
With a mixture of desperation and disgust he faced the gale, and out into the farmyard he plunged. He first approached the cow barn. Lo and behold, the milk producers were peacefully chewing their cuds, and the inside of their abode was as snug as a mouse under a haystack. It didn’t take him long to discover how the boy had chinked up the cracks of the cow abode and reestablished the locks and hinges. In the pigpen he found the same tranquility, notwithstanding the forces at work that night.
He turned to the haystack. As he felt about in the darkness, it didn’t take him very long to determine again the preparation of the lad with the gray, steady eyes. Every few feet on that feed stack wires had been thrown and weighted on each side. With this construction the alfalfa was peacefully under control and laughing at the elements.
Our farmer friend was stunned with what revelations he had in a few minutes of that cyclone night. He dropped his head. His mental maneuvers shot like lightning to the boy snoring in the attic. Again, the peculiar answer of a few weeks ago slapped him in the face: “I can sleep when the wind blows.” (From Thomas Whittaker, “How to Sleep on a Windy Night.”)
This young boy knew what he could do to be prepared for when the winds blew. And when he had done all he could do, he slept. What wonderful advice for us today.
Begin by making a list of what you can do to mitigate any worries you’re having. Focus on what you can control. Examples could include: wash your hands longer and more often, buy extra essential groceries, review your investments to see if you’re comfortable with your risk score going forward, campaign for your candidate, and limit your news consumption. (News primarily focuses on things we have no control over.)
When you’ve done what you can do, affirm your actions, and let the “what if’s” go. It may help to remind yourself that you’ve done hard things in your life and you can do them again if you have to. Then, get some sleep.
If you need some extra help with these storms, I’m available for short-term counseling. Email me at Terria.flint@gmail.com.