You can dance in the rain or sulk in the rain. It will rain regardless.

This quote by William Mulligan is a poetic reminder of one of life’s most important truths: you can’t control the storm, but you can choose how to stand in it.

Rain here symbolizes all the things life throws at us that we didn’t ask for—loss, setbacks, disappointments, stress. It’s going to happen, whether we resist it or not. The quote doesn't deny the reality of hardship; it just says: your attitude is still yours to choose.

This echoes a Stoic principle: we don’t control external events, only our response. Victor Frankl, in his work on meaning and suffering, put it this way—between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power.

Choosing to “dance” doesn’t mean pretending everything is okay. It means embracing the moment anyway. Finding beauty, humor, or grace right in the middle of what’s hard. Sulking might feel justified, but it often makes the weight heavier without changing the weather.

What “rain” are you standing in right now? And what would it mean to respond with lightness—not because the rain is gone, but because you’re still here, and still free to choose your next step?

The rain falls. The choice is yours.