People like to say that storms don’t last forever. Sometimes that’s comforting. Sometimes it feels dishonest. It’s as if people say that by default without considering what it’s like to be in the situation of the person listening. It’s like when someone you love passes away and another person tells you they went to Heaven. It’s kind; the intention is there, but it doesn’t make the pain less painful.
Some storms linger, especially grief. They weaken and return. They disguise themselves as calm days followed by sudden waves. When you’re a sailor caught in one of those storms, hope can begin to feel like pressure and something you’re expected to perform rather than feel. When we’re still grieving, others move on and expect you to, as well. If you don’t put on that front, people start to think you’re going crazy, losing it, or need help.
You start to wonder what you’re doing wrong. Why the sky hasn’t cleared yet. Why everyone else seems to be sailing under sunlight while you’re still checking for leaks.
But storms are not moral failures.
They aren’t punishments.
They aren’t evidence that you didn’t try hard enough.
They are conditions.
When a storm doesn’t pass, sailors don’t wait helplessly. They adapt. They secure what they can. They slow down. They stop focusing on distance and start focusing on stability.
Mental health often works this way. There are seasons where “getting better” doesn’t look like progress from the outside. It looks repetitive. It looks like managing symptoms rather than eliminating them. It looks like choosing survival over improvement. It’s work you didn’t ask for. Work that not every single person – or sailor – on this planet ever experiences, though few.
And that kind of endurance is exhausting. It’s unpredictable.
We don’t talk enough about long storms. About emotional weather that lasts months or years. We rush people toward healing without acknowledging how draining sustained effort can be. We celebrate breakthroughs but ignore the quiet labor of persistence.
If your storm hasn’t passed, you are not behind. You are not broken. You are not failing this journey. Please stop thinking there is something wrong with you. In society, we tend to think that if you’re not coming off as put together then you need to be put on medication. And while medication is helpful for many, the problem is that we aren’t normalizing feeling off. People have bad days. And we need to stop telling others that it’s not okay.
You are learning how to live inside difficult conditions and that is a skill sailors respect deeply. Though it may not seem like it, everyone is a part of our squadron. We’re all going through these ocean-like emotional currents. We’re just experiencing them at different times.
Bottom line, when you sense a storm coming…
When you see a dark cloud nearby…
Don’t worry. It’s Nature. It happens to us.
Just anchor yourself down for a moment so you don’t get off track. The storm will pass, but you’re better off if you prepare yourself for when the storm is here.
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