Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 8:57 — 4.8MB) | Embed
Welcome to Stuff I Learned Yesterday. My name is Barb Rankin, I was born and raised in sunny South Florida and now live in sunny Phoenix, Arizona, so I’ve been spoiled by great weather for much of my life, and I believe that if you aren’t learning, you aren’t living. In today’s episode of Stuff I Learned Yesterday I share a lesson about being flexible when things don’t go according to plan, and how your attitude can help see you through.
Fun Fact:
How was your winter? Weather.com recently published an article about the snowiest place in each state in America, as reported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). They reviewed 30 years of history and the snowiest place is ….the Paradise Ranger Station at Mount Rainer national Park in Washington State, located at almost 9000 feet. It has received a whopping 19,000 inches of snow (48,000 cm) over the last 30 years for an average snowfall of 645.5 inches per year. That’s 54 feet of snow, on average, each year. It’s also one of the snowiest places in the world. Several of Japan’s mountains average between 35 to 50 feet of snow each year, and Alaska and Utah have places that average over 40 feet annually. Brrrr – makes you feel cold, doesn’t it!
What I Learned Yesterday:
How many times have little unexpected difficulties cropped up in your life – things that took you by surprise and caught you off guard? I’m not talking about potentially life changing events. I’m talking about the small stuff of everyday living.
If we’re honest, it probably happens more than we care to admit. No matter how hard we try, things often don’t go according to plan. It could be something like misplaced car keys when you are running late for an appointment, a missed plane, or a broken down car when you’re on vacation. Are you flexible enough to meet these little difficulties when they occur by bending instead of breaking?
I recall one “unexpected difficulty” when I lived in Baltimore, Maryland, which normally has fairly mild winters. This was not a normal year. We had been hit with at least a foot of heavy, wet, snow which began on a Sunday. I knew that school kids would be getting a “Snow Day,” but I would have to be at work on Monday morning. Since it was to continue snowing until about midnight, I waited until about 6pm to begin shoveling, so that I could clear most of it and have an easier path out of my driveway the next day. Good planning, right?
It took me about 3 hours to shovel the sidewalk, clean off the car, and clear the driveway. The snow fall was getting lighter, so I thought that my plan had worked and I would have an easy getaway in the morning. I came indoors, got out of my sweaty, wet clothes, and took a nice hot shower. I settled down to watch the 10pm news and then heard a familiar sound – the county snowplow. That’s when the light bulb turned on in my head – of course the plow would come through and move all the snow from the road – and where would that snow go? Into any open spot it could be pushed – which was right into my just shoveled driveway….at 10pm at night.
Now this happened in the ancient days of B.L. – before laptops — which meant you couldn’t work from home. I could have ranted and raved, which wouldn’t have solved the problem. I could have waited until the morning to try to shovel out and been even later to work. Or I could put my wet clothes on and go back outside and shovel again. So with a laugh I did just that. Silly me thinking I could outsmart a snowplow. I finished it in an hour and it worked out just fine.
If you are flexible, you are able to respond to your changed conditions by bending and not breaking. You adapt to the new circumstances that have been placed in front of you. Is it easy – no, not always. But your attitude is what makes the difference. If you allow the small stuff to bother you, then it controls you and will simply cause you stress. If you acknowledge that little difficulties are part of everyday life, then you can begin to roll with them, work through them, and laugh at them.
When I moved my mother from Florida to Arizona many years ago, I made 5 “long weekend” trips over a 6 month period to help her go through her belongings and to pack up all the things she wanted to keep. During one of those trips, a tropical storm took an unexpected turn toward South Florida, and most of the planes left Miami International Airport to prevent damage. The storm lost its steam before it hit land, and it was a small wind and rain event, but no planes were in town for the next day’s flights, and that meant delays.
I had to get back to Phoenix for a major presentation, so I scrambled to find connecting flights to get out of town. I was leaving early the next morning, and then began the comedy of errors. The alarm clock which had been working stopped, and I woke up one hour before the flight. No time to shower. No make-up. No time to turn in the rental car. Mom took me to the airport and said she would drop off the rental car. We got to the airport 10 minutes before departure. (This was in the days before security checks and full flights!). I got to the counter. No ticket. I had to buy a new ticket and run to the gate. My only connection was through Las Vegas, and we got there, but when planes are moved out of one location, it normally means that they are late getting to their next location. Everything gets backed up. So, my Vegas to Phoenix plane was delayed. I finally got home about 3am, and had to be back up at 6am to get to work by 8am. And when I got to work, the presentation was postponed.
Was that a fun time? No. But if I had a meltdown somewhere along the way, the only person it would have hurt would have been me – and perhaps some poor person who was trying to help me.
Here’s what I learned.
Do I stay calm through all unexpected difficulties? No – I’m human and sometimes the emotion explodes before reason takes over. But we always have a choice in how we deal with little everyday difficulties. Everything will not go according to plan.
So ……
Don’t sweat the small stuff.
Learn to roll with what life gives you.
Be flexible.
Bend, don’t break.
And laugh along the way.
I’m Barb Rankin and this has been stuff I learned yesterday.
Follow Golden Spiral Media on Twitter at GSMPodcasts and Facebook.com/GoldenSpiralMedia. To subscribe to Stuff I Learned Yesterday, visit GoldenSpiralMedia.com/subscribe. If you’ve enjoyed this episode of Stuff I Learned Yesterday, I would be grateful if you’d leave a review in iTunes by going to www.goldenspiralmedia.com/itunes.
Send in your contributions for this week’s Friday Forum. Head on over to https://www.goldenspiralmedia.com/feedback and use the form on that page to submit your written or audio message. You can also use the Speakpipe widget to record something using your devices microphone. And of course you can call our voice feedback line at 304-837-2278. We’d love to hear from you.
Join our Facebook Group at Facebook.com/groups/stuffilearnedyesterday.
You can Follow Golden Spiral Media on Twitter at GSMPodcasts and Facebook.com/GoldenSpiralMedia. If you’ve enjoyed this episode of Stuff I Learned Yesterday, I would be grateful if you’d leave a review in iTunes.
[sc:stuff]