When Life Gets Turned Upside Down

Ok, maybe it’s not quite that bad, but I felt like life was turned upside down today, just a little bit anyway.

You see the unthinkable happened Tuesday morning – Coach Nancy was sick.

Now lest you think I am exaggerating, Gretchen and I were searching our (somewhat feeble) minds this morning trying to figure out the last time Nancy actually dared be sick and miss a scheduled coaching session. The best we can remember is that it has only happened once before, and we couldn’t come close to telling you when.

But still, since this post is all about me, let’s get back to it.

This might come as a news flash, but I like routine. Don’t upset the apple cart. Keep your ducks in a row.

So when I came downstairs this morning and Nancy told me it wasn’t happening for her today, it set my mind into overdrive, trying to figure out how I was going to rearrange my entire day.

Who was going to coach classes where? What do I do with the kids? I don’t have time for coffee this morning?

Now THAT is high drama!

Of course in reality it wasn’t really that bad at all.

Deep breath, one thing at a time, trust in the systems you have in place, be grateful for the great people you have that work with you and for the clients who will roll with the punches without Nancy, and least for one day. 🙂

The whole episode got me to thinking what fickle, fragile creatures we humans can be.

One minor thing (don’t tell Nancy I said that, cause she ain’t having too much fun right now) and things can go downhill fast.

We talk ourselves really quickly into imagining all the worst things that can possibly happen.

Why do we do that? (That is a rhetorical question :))

So here’s the take home:

We are going to have curveballs thrown at us – a lot of them.

How we react makes all the difference.

We have the choice whether or not to let the sick kid, or sick dog, or sick coach propel us into a downward spiral.

We missed a couple days training, so there’s no point until going back until next week, right?

Or someone has to eat that BOX of girl scout cookies to get it out of the house, right?

Or my boss was being a (fill in the blank), so eating this pint of Haagen-Daaz will show HIM who is really boss, right?

I think it was Emerson who said:

“Sow a thought and you reap an action; sow an act and you reap a habit; sow a habit and you reap a character; sow a character and you reap a destiny.”

This works both ways.

We can dwell on the negative or focus on the positive.

Both lead us down different paths, different destinations, even different destiny’s.

Where is your mind going to lead you today?