Anyone else get emotional about lost water?

I have plans to buy/build some water cisterns for capturing some of the water off my roof, but haven't been able to get them yet.  Some water harvesting earthworks have been put in, but there are still some to go, so maybe half my yard is set to help water soak in when it rains.

But this week...man, it feels honestly emotional to NOT have everything set up. We are having this mega-drought (live in the southwest, USA), and we just got a week of rain for the record books. We got more rain in a couple days than we got in the entire previous YEAR.

And there was so much of it I could have saved if I'd had cisterns already, and it went into my yard instead. It was so heavy, a lot of it ended up going out of my yard, even with some pretty good earthworks set up.

Anyone else in a desert get that feeling of loss when they aren't able to harvest water when there is a good storm?

I'm not in the desert, but I do rely on rainwater. So I totally get what you're saying and feeling here. I have found myself super sad when our tanks were already full and there was a big rain. Or even more so when we had gotten an extra tank and didn't get it set up in time for a storm.

On the flip side, imagine how excited and joyful you'll feel once you get your cisterns set up and you hear the sound of rain on the roof! It makes every time it rains feel like a cause for celebration!

I share your pain.
But I also have learned from experience that sometimes, things just happen!

One thing I am aware of is that many people dont install tanks that are big enough.
If reliance on rainfall is important, 20,000L tanks are a minimum to be considered.
My signature has details of the concept of Rainfall Collection.
Good luck for the next rain storm.

We've been under heat waves and drought, with crazy little thunderstorms popping out of nowhere and dropping real moisture. We need that rainwater for tomatoes and squash; our well water is too salty. I've been caught flat-footed a number of times, and it makes me feel like a complete blundering idiot. So yeah, I get it. I am trying to rectify the situation.

I get more motivated to get things in done

If I lived in your area, I would get emotional too.  So far, water has not been an issue in my present location.

I live in NorCal where we don't get any rain for 9 months out of the year. I had a SNAFU with my water storage last winter and watched the minimal rain we got wash away as well. I feel your pain. Not on the same level probably, but I am empathetic.

Failure begets motivation.

I happily enjoy seeing runoff when it rains.

I have a water well so I know the water will go back into the aquifer or into the wet weather creeks to water the wildlife.

I also have a water tank as a reserve.

If we did not have these I would be sad, too.

Maybe there are some things that you could do until you can get that cistern.  What about those blue barrels that I have seen for sale? Or even a 5 gallon bucket? I have seen several ideas here on the forum.

Yes... yes I do. My land is half flat, 1/4 cliff, and the other quarter is a stream bottom at the bottom of the cliff. I am desperately trying to keep water in the upper flat half and keep it from reaching the creek bottom because after that point its gone. However, I am always humbled by the monsoon rains which regularly bust out my shovel dug swales. I fix them back up and try again and remember that even if some swales busted, I slowed and absorbed more water than if they weren't any earthworks at all.

I have done some research on groundwater velocity and it can be anywhere from 0.1 feet per year to 2 feet per day depending on soil type. Either way that water will be around for a looonnnggg time under that surface even in small area. At 2 feet per day it will take almost two months for the water to leave a small yard.