Yesterday was a day I’d rather not re-live. I’m not particularly fond of flying but when Southwest’s entire computer system went down, it created a nightmare. Flights delayed up to 5 hours. Missed or cancelled connecting flights. Needless to say people were not happy. What was interesting was how differently people reacted to the same situation.
On top of being delayed for several hours, we sat on the plane for nearly two hours waiting before we took off. The woman next to me went to sleep. The guy across from me read a book, “Born to Run,” a great read by the way. I pulled out my yellow pad and wrote this newsletter. An older guy behind me and across the aisle pulled out his cell phone to book a hotel for the night since he would miss his connecting flight. While we all did something relatively productive, the group behind me did nothing but complain to each other and the staff. While they certainly had a right to be upset, everyone has a choice of how they respond to a situation.
A good choice
Last week, one of our members Heather showed up for her session and unfortunately her coach forgot his key to get into the facility. Rather than skip the session, they did an impromptu workout at a nearby park which turned out to be a great experience.
I hope both of these examples serve as a great reminder that while you can’t always control what happens to you, you can control your response to it.