Yesterday, I had a change of plans. A simple flight from NYC to Chicago turned into two cancellations and a few hours of waiting that weren’t on the program for how I’d had my day laid out.
I had no choice about the horrible weather that was changing airline schedules making no certainty of arrival. Saying “Rain, rain go away,” has never worked for me. All I could do was repaint my picture of how the day might go.
More than anything I try to change how I’m seeing the world …
- Be a big fan of seeing unplanned interruptions as adventures. Adventure mode helps me gather good energy. My quest is usually to get to the end of the adventure with my good humor still going.
- Like watching how other folks respond. Watching other folks I can see how they make their situations worse. That woman on the phone complaining about the weather and the delays isn’t having nearly as much fun as the one who is playing with her child in the airport. The conversation I had with the off-duty pilot would never have happened if I stayed inside a world of my own.
- Get into discovering new opportunities. A walk through a bookstore gave me ideas for my blog. A dinner in the sports bar gave a celebration of an overtime game in the world cup with an excited, engaged crowd.
- Watch for other possibilities and fuel them with a smile. In the shuffle of several boarding passes my baggage claim check left me and my bag wasn’t on the carousel when I arrived home. I gave a second’s thought to the contents of the bag; then went on to the possibility that my “adventure-inclined” luggage might have taken a route of it’s own. Sure enough it was safely waiting for me in another part of the airport.
Now I’m not saying that a wider world view or adventure mode will win anyone a ton of money or change the weather to a sunny day. But I’m saying that it will make what comes a lot easier to work through.
Living in the opportunities is always more fun than being stuck in a problem.
It’s all in how you view the world. When you have room to move, breathe, and smile, people respond.
How would changing your view change what’s happening in your life now?
