Just as your day is going great, something happens to interrupt it and we go into a spin. The reason, our brain hates surprises. I liken our brain to a computer, if everything works well then our frontal lobe is happy whirring away. If something out of the ordinary happens, the little wheel starts spinning out of control.
Previously, I was one of those people who would let everyone know how I felt about the change in my situation. I would get grumpy and say things that I would later regret. I would then have to apologise which would make me feel worse still.
Through my learnings and study, I have now found that the right way to deal with disruptions is to relax, make a joke about it, and 'go with the flow'. It is still damn annoying when things go wrong but it now doesn't impact on me like it used to.
Here's an example. Yesterday I had a busy day providing workshops in Rotorua and Christchurch, two cities in New Zealand. I managed to get to each venue with minutes to spare and then the country's radar failed. All flights were grounded.
I could have panicked, which I would have done previously. I could have told the airline how much they had inconvenienced my day despite it being no fault of theirs. I could have demanded a refund and hired a car to drive the 6 hours home. I could have done lots of things that would make me look like a fool.
Instead I joked about the situation. "Can't the pilots just look out the windscreen" I quipped. I sat down and completed my emails, planned the next week, wrote another coaching programme and watched a bit of television. There was nothing anyone could do about the situation so why fight it.
By embracing the situation and using it to my advantage (looking at the positive side of things) I was content and had completed work that I would otherwise had to complete at another time. I went to bed relaxed and slept well knowing that I was on top. I had used a bad situation to my advantage.
I wonder why it took me so long to figure this stuff out. I guess it is called life.