The sky is overcast and swirling with darkness and angry clouds. That familiar smell is in the air—you know the one—that signals a heavy rain is on its way. Go ahead. Walk out onto your deck, or into your backyard, or even out onto the pavement of your driveway. Feel that heaviness in the air and embrace the pausing moments where the world slows before chaos rips free from the clouds. This is the time where you can hear your inner thoughts the loudest.

Brace yourself: rain is coming.

The funny thing about thunderstorms is that they are an occurrence that is very common, and yet, every time, they are so mighty and so big, they still catch us off guard. We see them coming miles off, and even if we mentally prepare ourselves, they still rip through the calm that precedes them with a presence we are never truly prepared for.

Life is also this way. Even if you can see the storms coming miles off, the signs swirling in those darkening clouds, the pitfalls and torrential downpours can still catch you in an unexpected manner. We are never as prepared as we think we are for that moment when the clouds open and pour down misfortune. But just like all of those wicked rainstorms you have weathered, life’s rainfalls are fleeting and are over before we realize it. In the middle of the downpour, caught without an umbrella, the winds and water from the skies seem endless. However, every rainstorm has its end.

It sounds cliché but it is true. As a wise redhead once said, “The sun will come out tomorrow.” Those times of warm gentle breezes and sundrops originating from those same once-angry clouds are on the way. You just must weather the storm until that moment. This too shall pass. No thunderstorm lasts forever. There is that saying that exists about how life is not about avoiding thunderstorms, but instead learning how to dance in the rain. That’s all well and good, but sometimes we forget how to dance, and that’s alright too. It is alright to walk slowly in that rain. It is alright to feel uncomfortable for a bit, to get a little soggy. It happens. Just know that as uncomfortable and difficult as that downpour is, there is an end. The lightning fades off into the distance and the thunderclaps come further and further apart. You have weathered another storm and you are stronger for it.

That doesn’t mean that rain will never come again, but it does mean that you will be prepared to face the next storm. Because while the knowledge exists that rain is a part of life and there is always another storm around the corner, this asset is a strength not a misfortune. Rain, like the tears that fall from our own eyes in the midst of our personal storms, can not just be destructive but can also be cleansing. It washes away the pain and releases sorrow so that there is more room for those sundrops to fill. Every cup must runneth over at some point, and even if it’s not always with blessings, that only leaves more space for happiness to well up in us. You are perhaps sodden, but not defeated. Remember that.

Brace yourself: life is coming. You will be ready for the rain.