Keeping a positive focus throughout a challenging day!

Keeping a positive focus throughout a challenging day!

I live in the north western most corner of the Commonwealth of Virginia and commute to the District of Columbia a few days per week. It is 90 miles one way.

Today I had a court ordered settlement conference in Wilmington, Delaware at 10:00am.  So I planned accordingly for an 8:00am train, which required, giving myself an abundance of leeway, my leaving home at 5:00am.

But Mother Nature threw a wrench in my best-laid plans--snow. Not an abundance of snow, mind you; no – we had a dusting, less than an inch, a pretend snow event. School wasn’t even delayed and the school systems in our neck of the woods cancel school with the mere mention of the dreaded word. Toilet paper, milk and bread disappear from grocery shelves as if we lived in Neanderthal times before the 4-wheel drive vehicle.  But this unexpected advent of flurries turned my 90 minutes drive into…almost 4 hours! There was no white out. The roads were not slick. There was no blowing precipitation. Nope. And, I left my house at 5:00am.  I arrived at Union Station at 8:45am – clearly too late for my 8:00am train. I’d called and emailed my counsel in Wilmington to advise I would be from late to no-show.  He called back to say the judge understood and agreed not to issue a warrant for my arrest for contempt. Yay!

I used my affirmations and positive focus to remind myself that my angels wanted me to be late for some reason. I practiced my deep breathing, picked up a chatty slug to use the HOV lanes and decided that whatever was to happen would happen.  By the time I crossed the T.R. Bridge traffic was sailing along at warp speed. I parked, flew to Gate D with 10 minutes to spare only to be told I had to CHANGE MY TICKET!

The line at the Amtrak ticket window was lengthy. At the Acela window, a man was explaining to the only agent on duty that the machine had only spit out three of the nine tickets he needed. My stress was building.  I asked (at a mildly elevated tone) if anybody would be able to help me make the 9:00am Acela so I wouldn’t be tossed in the pokey. The kind gentleman man with the multi tickets stepped aside, reminding me yet again that if we are aware, we will find ourselves surrounded by earth angels willing to pave an easy way for us. The Amtrak agent changed my ticket in the blink of an eye. I made my train, arrived in Wilmington only an hour late, found empathy from the judge, and negotiated a successful resolution to my case. My adversary gave me a ride back to the train station.

I caught an earlier train back to D.C., managed to avoid the rush hour, and made it home in less than 2 hours after a long, exhausting, relatively stressful day. But what could have been an extremely frustrating day morphed into just a long, tiring, fairly good day. Despite my inclinations, I accepted I had no control over the situation. That made it better. I didn’t let the little things get me down. This is a lesson I need to remember every day. Que sera sera! It is what it is. Low expectations – high acceptance = serenity.