What can unusual weather and chickens teach us

A usual April day in the Swiss Alps is like a patchwork, weather-wise. We have a French expression saying "En avril ne te découvre pas d'un fil" - litterally meaning "Don't even remove one thread of clothing in April". It makes perfect sense, because of April's unpredictable weather, made up of wind, brief showers of rain or snow, sunshine, cold mornings yet warm days, following a chaos pattern. It's not unusual to see children in t-shirts and shorts and winter boots. It's not unusual to see umbrellas turned all over, flying over destroyed hairstyles. It's also not unusual to have to carry around a thick winter jacket all day, and your sunglasses. But this year, April 17th was an unusual day. What happened, hadn't happened since 1976. This is the story of an unusual day in the Swiss Alps.

The Story

On the night of April 16th, a depression, extending from eastern Atlantic to the Mediterranean, combined with some other climatic occurences involving temperature inversions and other stuff way beyond the scope of this post, brought huge amounts of humidity on the Alps. These athmospheric phenomena meant, in our reality, that we woke up in a thick, white world, all quiet, with all systems down: electricity was down, trains were stopped, roads were blocked, branches and trees had fallen all around the place, all schools of the county were closed, and authorities adviced to stay home. "Yeepee!" said the children. "Shoot!" said the parents.

That day reminded me of the importance of two values: putting things into perspective and being surrounded by trusted people. Let's discuss each one in a little more detail.

Putting things into perspective

When all your plans for the day are jeopardized, and your usual comfort is gone, "shoot" is a natural reaction. That day, simple things that we take for granted were simply not possible. A warm shower, cooking on the stove, turning on the light, etc. At that stage, you basically can choose between two attitudes: being annoyed, complain, and build up your frustration, or put things into perspective.

Of course if you need a life-saving surgery on such a day, or if you're the surgeon, you're entitled to be annoyed. However, in my case, nothing was a matter of life or death, and I decided to put things into perspective. This is what helped me doing it. I instantly thought of my grandma, and of mothers surviving in extreme poverty or war zones for whom our unusual day is daily life (perhaps not the snow, but you know what I mean!) It may sound stupid, but it worked. Suddenly, all my problems vanished and turned into opportunities for breaking the routine, finding alternative solutions, and throwing happy kids out to play. Putting things into perspective was also easy within the security of knowing that the situation was temporary, and that hundreds of people worked hard to bring the situation back to normal (a hundred thank you's to them), something my grandma couldn't do. Throwing two kids out was also much easier than five!

Another useful attitude that helps, in general, putting things into perspective is to use positive language. This is very well described by Sylvia in her blog post. I provide an example below, so please read further!

Being surrounded by trusted people

I wasn't alone on that unusual day. My partner was also stuck at home. He's a solid person who can be trusted. While I took care of finding candles and fixing cold food, he was out shovelling snow and sawing dangerously hanging branches. Sharing tasks with a trusted person is a chance in everyday life, and can be vital in extreme unusual situations.

That morning, I had to take care of the neighbors' chickens because they were on holiday (the neighbors, not the chickens). The henhouse is a closed-system cubicle, with only one door opening outward. To get in the henhouse to clean it and feed the chickens, I had to remove all snow in front of the door. Then I got in and closed the door behind me. Otherwise I'd have witnessed a real Chicken Run. As soon as the door was closed, a ton of heavy wet snow fell from a tree, just in front of the door, outside the henhouse. I was stuck in there. The door was impossible to open from the inside. Here's the example of positive language I used in the few (long) minutes when I was captive with my fellow chickens: "I am going to find a way to get out of this henhouse", rather than "I'm stuck in here surviving on poultry grain until all snow has melt". The positive language helped me looking around to find a solution, rather than staying afraid and inactive. Luckily, I wasn't alone, the solution was easy. My trusted partner was around, heard me, and liberated me (without hesitation). What could have turned into a horror movie scenario was in the end a funny anecdote, thanks to being surrounded by a trusted person.

Closing word

Reflecting on that extraordinary April day in the Swiss Alps, it's clear that even the most unpredictable events can offer valuable lessons. Personally, the experience highlighted the power of shifting one's perspective when faced with unexpected disruptions, reminding us that what seems like a crisis can become an opportunity. Moreover, the day underscored the immense comfort and practical help that comes from being surrounded by trusted individuals, whether it's sharing tasks or being rescued from a snowy henhouse!

At WordifyScience, we are a bunch of scientists that you can trust. Reach out if you feel stuck in a challenging or unexpected situation: we can help you build a reliable, long-term team to overcome difficulties and discover creative solutions together, on the long run (not the chicken run)!