Pondering over a recent holiday, I wondered why it was that things weren't going right. A planned family trip began to unravel when some of the family could not travel due to illness. This set of a chain reaction that included;
- Reallocation of airline seats; Sitting in the heat on a bus for 30 minutes waiting for all passengers to deplane just in case one person decided to travel on the bus despite requiring a booking to travel; Directed to the wrong hotel room necessitating us dragging suitcases around the complex late at night; Allocated lodgings located on the side of the main road and directly opposite a pub which holds karaoke every night until past midnight; The venue not quite being up to the standards we anticipated from the photos on their website; Internet access costing $50.00 per day.
The list goes on. I found myself feeling disappointed at how the last 24 hours had unfolded that I began to get a little annoyed. The next day I set about making things right, and then I stopped myself before changing things.
What if this was meant to be? What if these things were occurring for a reason? What if I made the most of what we had?
I began to look at things through a different lens. The person who couldn't travel ended up in hospital, had they come on holiday they might have ended up in a hospital that wasn't quite up to the same standards. The children that were travelling may not have liked the rocky shores of the beach. Sleeping in a different part of the complex might have introduced different problems.
As the days went by, things began to turn around. Positive things began to happen - the accommodation was not so bad after all, we fell asleep laughing at how bad the karaoke sounded without hearing the accompanying music (and by the way, singing louder does not make your voice sound any better), we made our own arrangements rather than stay at the venue. We made the most of what was presented to us.
Things began to change for the better. Or did they? Was it simply that looking for the good in everything changed my perception? If things had started differently would they still be the same? Had we caught a different flight on a different day, had we gone to a different location, had we.....
What is for us, is for us. What is meant to be, just is. We can't answer what might happen if we made a different decision at a different time. Guilt and regret is a terrible thing and will eat away at us.
Make the most of whatever situation you find yourself in, start looking for the good in every situation, change the lens in which you see things. Who knows, doing this might just change your life.
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