COMMENTARY>>How to stay grounded during the storm: A lesson from the Sea Wolf

By Col. Stephen Weaver
19th Mission Support Group Commander

I was on the wrong end of the island when the first mate called. The skipper was preparing to leave straightaway. “What changed?” I asked. The plan had been to wait a day or two and let the storm pass. He noted, in colorful and exciting terms, the irrelevance of my question. I quickly gathered my things and began to walk, and then run, to the right end of the island. The Sea Wolf normally had a five-man crew, but I knew the skipper would reduce the number to four if I delayed.

I was surprised to find myself sick. Seasickness had not typically been a problem for me, but a couple of days of 10- to 15-foot seas in a 100-foot fishing boat had wrecked me. I couldn’t eat and had a bad headache. Mercifully, one evening, the first mate took pity upon the greenhorn Texan and proffered two worthwhile pieces of advice. “First,” he said, “get physically sick; don’t fight it anymore. Just let it go. In fact, if possible, force it out.” I acted upon this first suggestion, and immediately improved my condition.

Our primary interest, however, lies in the second piece of counsel; it was guidance which I found helpful in fending off future bouts of seasickness and, more importantly, find useful still today when weathering life’s metaphoric storms: “Don’t get drawn into the swell and chop immediately around the boat,” he said. “Instead, focus on the distant horizon.”

At sea, orienting to a constant like the horizon helps to ground and settle you physically by providing both perspective and promise. It affords the perspective of truth by confirming the upness of up and the downness of down, but also, with a little effort, suggests the promise of a future calm that, in the fullness of time, will inevitably follow the storm.

Life, too, benefits from grounding to a constant — a bedrock of fundamental core values that steadies us in the “swell and chop” of our own life’s storms. I find grounding through a faith in God and the principles deriving from this faith. Others may acquire a steadying strength from time-tested family or institutional traditions. In any event, we benefit from assessing the worthiness of our grounding in advance of the storm — in advance of life’s certain troubles and trials. Do our grounding “horizons” grant a perspective of truth and a promise of future calm? Do they confirm up and down, right and wrong, important and unimportant? Do they help us see past the problems of today and instill a hope for tomorrow?

If no, particularly if already in a storm, I encourage you seek out someone you respect, whose grounding you admire, whether a friend, a supervisor, a co-worker — a Wingman. Our Air Force also provides a multitude of resources specially designed for and interested in helping you – chaplains, counselors, first sergeants and commanders. Find one, talk to them, and begin to construct anew your “horizon.” You’ll find perspective and promise in those discussions and will leave better prepared to weather your storm and enjoy the calm seas of the future.