There is a sense of freedom in the unemployed stage I'm in right now, or as I like to call it "practice for retirement." These past couple of weeks, I have had the opportunity to wander through small towns, airports, and the downtown streets of Seattle, Calgary, and Spokane and just observe. As I've people-watched, strangers have been going about their day to day activities. In the airports, people coming. People going. People eating. People shopping. Some rushed, some alone, some wasting time, some traveling in groups, all going somewhere. Each airport feels like a mini break from the outside world where time pauses. In downtown, people use many modes of transportation to get to where they need to be. Trains scrambling. Busses bustling. High-heels clicking. In Calgary, the directions of lanes switch north to south or east to west depending on the time of day to accommodate the rush hours of the majority. As for me though, right now, I have nowhere to be and no need to be in a hurry and I'm loving being on the outside of it all.
Everyone around me seems to have their routine set and when the unexpected happens, reactions are variable. Different people adapt to changed plans very differently and when a flight is delayed or an accident on the road backs up the only route home, everyone has the choice to respond their own way. Sitting on my last plane, I overheard a father's inspirational parenting moment sitting in between his children in the row behind me. The pilot had just announced that our (already significantly delayed) flight would be further delayed due to a computer not working properly in the cockpit that was in the process of being repaired. One of the children whined and expressed upset over an event they would probably miss due to a late arrival. The dad then gave some words of encouragement to the child explaining that "The people who will be successful in life moving forward are those who can learn to quickly adapt to situations like this." This statement couldn't be more true in todays day and age of quickly transforming technology and fast paced, instant gratification lifestyles.
This man's message was so clear, "Don't let your life be so dictated by routine that you're unable to adapt to the unexpected in a positive way." The world already has plenty of negativity and our brains are naturally wired to respond to inconvenient and unsavory situations in a negative way, but why not choose the alternative. Being upset rarely improves these situations. The lady across the aisle from me offered her unopened caesar salad to the gentleman sitting next to her when he told her about his travel inconveniences that day and how he would only have minutes in the next airport before his connecting flight departed. I was encouraged by this stranger lady to make the decision to not only be at peace with the unexpected, but to also brighten someone else's day. I hope this story inspires you as well to adapt to situations as gracefully as possible regardless of what your routine demands of you!
