Go With It
Life rarely happens the way we’d like it to and the ONLY thing we really have control over is our reactions to the events that unfold.
Last week we were excitedly packing for our vacation to the Outer Banks when we found out our flight was cancelled. We had the option to take a flight the next day but were not sure whether it would occur so decided to drive the 11 hours to our destination.
After spending the next hour cancelling various parts of our trip, I’m not going to lie, I had some trouble staying positive. I tried to imagine that there would be some benefit to us changing our plans but could not begin to imagine what that might be.
Anyone who knows us, also knows that we drive very old cars. We looked into renting a car but found them to be far more expensive than our flights had been so we packed up our reliable old car and off we went at 3 PM with our paddleboards and anything else that would fit into our surprisingly spacious little car.
Once on the road listening to and discussing an audiobook (Law of Attraction) it was much easier to see the positive in our present moment. We had 11 hours (if we didn’t stop) to spend together talking, listening, seeing new sights (until it got dark) and probably most importantly, changing our perspectives about what’s possible in terms of driving distances.
The drive wasn’t that bad even with more than half of it in the dark and arriving at 2:45 AM, way past our bedtime! Historically, we’ve struggled with 3 - 4 hour drives and now we would certainly drive 4 - 5 hours without thinking much of it, which is very exciting as it opens up future vacation destinations significantly.
So after about 6 hours of sleep, Carey woke me up to show me a school of approximately 20 dolphins swimming by right offshore.
I wasn’t able to capture the dolphins in this picture, which is the view from our balcony, but I did get some of the thousands of migrating birds. What’s not to love here?
After a very bad day of eating “car-food” and convenience store dinner (because I did not practice what I teach when we finally got into the car) we were very excited about a healthy breakfast. We walked 5 minutes to a highly-rated local restaurant to discover breakfast was over and lunch options were not looking very healthy.
Salad was an option but I went with the local special (bay scallop grilled cheese with American cheese, bacon and fries) and ordered the side of pickles recommended by the waitress, thinking I’d get a little bit of vegetable in there, but forgetting where I was.
I asked if I could get cheddar instead of American cheese and the waitress came back later saying the cook refused to make this substitution and set the fried pickles on our table. So much for my healthy vegetable appetizer.
The food tasted great but was terribly unhealthy. I woke up the next day with Covid and did not get to enjoy as much of our vacation as I had hoped but had an amazingly beautiful view while I was sick.
All things considered, our “problems” really are small ones.
Final Notes:
Every single day there will be events that occur in ways you might not like.
When you feel yourself getting frustrated, disappointed, angry, stressed (whatever emotion you’re feeling), try to notice it WITHOUT JUDGING YOURSELF for feeling the emotions.
Remind yourself that you cannot control external circumstances or other people, but you CAN control what you think and how you feel.
Do the best that you can to bring yourself back to a better feeling thought in as short of a time as you’re able. The more you practice this, the easier it gets.
