Last week, Detroit was under water. I, mean literally. I watched in disbelief as our highways and freeways were submerged in  10 to 14 ft. of water. People were struggling to get through the water and many cars just stopped working right in the middle of the freeways. Some people had even brought out canoes to ride up and down their streets. Basements were flooded (including mine) were filled with at least 2 ft. of water. Who knew that the rain that we were getting and that I was thoroughly enjoying would turn out to leave such a mess? It rained for about 4 hours straight. Our street was flooded too.

 

When it was all said and done we had to throw out everything in our basement. Books, clothes, and a lot of memories all were ruined. Hardly, anything could be salvaged. Our basement is empty except for a few things that were on shelves and didn't get wet during the flood. This is something that I usually watch on t.v. but this time I was in the mist of the disaster. Detroit was major news all around the world. People were watching as people stood on top of their cars and couldn't get home for hours because of the flood that showed no mercy to anyone and few escaped it's raft.

 

Even though, all this was going on I still had to write my blog post and get somethings done on this blog that I had been procrastinating on. I didn't think that my city would be under water because of a flood. This came totally unexpectedly and without warning. Yes, we have been getting a lot of rain but nothing of this magnitude. Now, we had a big mess to cleanup. All the while praying, that we didn't get anymore rain until we did. Usually, I write my blog post in one setting but not that day I didn't. I was doing three things at once. I was writing my blog post, putting up my advertising resources page and finishing my tools and resources page that had been saying, "Coming Soon" for almost two years now. It seemed just when I had planned to really take care of things this calamity hit us.

 

However, I couldn't let this adversity stop me from doing what I said that I was going to do. I had to keep on keeping on. Yes, I had to stop working on my blog to help clean out the basement. Which, was really nerve racking because I'm the type of person that likes to get things done in one setting. Needless to say, I didn't get it done that day. I had to finish everything the next day instead. I also still had to help clean out the basement because the job was not yet finished. I guess, I could of taken a break but at this time it just wasn't a good time as I have lots of things that I need to get done. These are somethings that helped me stay focused in the face of adversity:

 

Not Getting Frustrated

The flood was beyond my control so it was of no use of getting frustrated. It wasn't going to help the situation any. Remaining, calm and cool and putting my trust in Allah (God) was the best thing for me to do. It also helped me not to worry. I also was surrounded by my family which I love very much and who really helped us in our time of need.

 

Downsizing

Even though we lost a lot of things it put a lot of things in perspective. I still had a lot though. It's great to have memories in physical form but some of the best memories I have are not in pictures they are in my mind. Those are where some of my best memories are. So, it doesn't matter if I have lost some pictures which are the physical. I can't see them physically but mentally I can and I can revisit them anytime. Also, I have what I need. In our case we had a lot of stuff and much we could do without. The flood just helped us get rid of some excess baggage and caused us to do it now instead of later.

 

Working Together

We really came together to clean up. It was a lot to do (and I mean a lot). My sister and her kids really helped us out. Young people can really do a lot if you let them. Plus, they really wanted to help and they did an awesome job. We really got done rather quickly considering the mess that we had on our hands.

 

Being Thankful

Yes, we lot some stuff but that's just what it was stuff. I am very thankful for what I do have. Things can always be worse. Focusing on what we still have and not on what we lost. Who knows? Maybe Allah (God) will replace it with better. I like to look to the future not stay in the past. It brought a lot of attention to what this city needs to get done too. So, hopefully some things that need to be replaced can now be in the works. I'm just thankful that it was only the basement that got flooded. Now, I really do know what other people go through when they have been hit by floods.

 

All in all you just have to keep going. You can't sit down and think about all the things you have to do because then you won't get them done. Yes, I could still blog even though we had this flood. In the first time in a long, long time. The internet did not go out during this storm. Can you believe that? I couldn't either but that's just one more thing to be grateful for.:)

 

Have you ever had an adversity? What did you do and how did you handle it? What were some things that you learned? What can advice can you give?