I had a great time in Las Vegas this weekend at a sales training with one of my business mentors, Lisa Sasevich! At the event, I met a ton of creative entrepreneurs who are doing BIG things in their businesses.
I can’t stress enough just how important it is to invest in yourself and get the ongoing training, support and inspiration you need to achieve your business goals. And of course it helps when you also get to have fun with awesome people along the way :)
On the way back to Hawaii, I had my usual layover in Los Angeles at LAX. But what was supposed to be a one-hour layover turned into a 4-hour flight delay. Upon hearing this news, I was NOT a happy black woman. I was pissed!
I was ready to go home. My plan was to get back in time to enjoy a good night’s sleep in my own bed. Not to mention, I had an 8:00am coaching client the next morning.
But as I looked around the airport waiting area, with people settling in with food, coffee and pillows for an unexpected 4-hour wait, I realized just how blessed we were. Even though we had been inconvenienced by a lengthy flight delay…we were still going to HAWAII in a few hours, a tropical getaway that many people would love to just be able to visit in their lifetime.
When that divine reminder hit me, my face immediately softened from a frown to a big smile. I would just chill for a while and get some work done. I grabbed the little $12 food voucher the airline gave us and went to find a sandwich and a comfortable place to camp out.
While the default for many of us in this situation might be to get mad, demand a refund and throw shade to the rude airline staff, that’s not the behavior that serves us best. Complaining about circumstances that are out of your control just escalates the negative emotions you already have.
No matter what happens to throw off your day, it helps to remember three things about happiness:
- You can enjoy life a lot more if you make joy your default emotion.
- You can see a lot more humor in everyday situations if you make smiling your default facial expression.
- You can experience a lot more happiness if you make it the default choice in your life.
I didn’t get back to Hawaii until 2:00am this morning. But when I did, I simply felt grateful to have a bed to drop into, exhausted and happy to be home.
Leave a comment: What’s your default emotion or behavior when things don’t go as planned?
Rosetta Thurman is a nationally-recognized author, speaker, mentor and coach dedicated to helping women create their ideal lives.
Hmmmm… it depends. If the circumstances are out of my control, I just sit & wait things out or do something productive (if possible) while waiting. I may get a little annoyed, but there’s really no use in purposely aggravating myself. Just roll with the punches if I have to.
Love that – roll with the punches. Nice to see you here again :)
Usually I bust into tears and tried that recently on flight I missed.. it got me no where. So I decided to dust my self off and call customer service still in tears and some how miracles started happening my default emotion now is be proactive for my self. And yes finding joy in the small things like a place to charge my phone while in limbo.
Great way to redirect negative energy – turn it into action!
I constantly remind myself that all things work together toward good – even if I dont realize how in the moment, every moment is part of the divine plan for me:-)
Yes! Everything happens FOR you, not TO you :)
P.S. Hope to see you in Atlanta.
Instant irritation and the why me mentality. This needs to be a rapid change in my life because I am realizing that I am anything but happy in some important areas in my life because of this reaction.
Now that you’re aware, it will be easier to change your thoughts in the moment when something comes up :)
It really is ALL about perspective. I’ve always tried to let your three things to remember be my defaults. They just help me feel so much better inside. And that’s what really matters. Glad it all worked out for you.
Indeed – it feels so much better when I choose to see the bright side of any situation. Thanks for reading!