Last Wednesday, I was about 20 minutes late to knitting class, trying to find the bus stop, when I got a call from Katie very kindly and maybe a tad scared, asking if I knew I had booked our flights to Oslo for Thursday night not Thursday morning. Um. NO.
In 20 + years of booking flights, hotels, trips this has never happened to me. I felt terrible for possibly wasting money. I felt embarrassed for making the mistake. I felt annoyed because it was one more thing on a busy day.
After a couple deep breaths and positive self-talk which went something like this, "You are a smart, resourceful woman with hours in the day. Figure it out!", I was ready to explore all options.
Book a new flight at exorbitant rates? No thanks.
Keep flight and miss a day of exploration? I'll pass.
I knew that both of those options were not ideal and would have left me disgruntled and resentful. Then I asked myself, "What else am I missing?"
So we ended up taking the overnight train from Stavanger to Norway. Something neither of us had done before and were glad to have experienced. May not do it again as an odd sensation to feel jet lagged after a train ride that would have been a 50 minute train ride but I digress.
I could have easily just gone with an option above but in my gut I knew there was more than I was giving myself credit for.
Asking myself, "What else?" kept the possibilities open. It kept me looking for more options.
How do you handle life when you get derailed? Do you typically just call it a loss and begrudgingly go along or do you stop and think "What else?"
We are far more powerful than we give ourselves credit for. Trust your ability to find the "What Else" and see how your world shifts.
