I was headed out on a recent flight when the entire computer system for the airline went out. People were standing at the airport unable to check in, check their bags or get through security. This was going on in cities across the country and possibly the world.
I was flying out of San Francisco, and the airline employees there did an incredible job of keeping their cool, keeping passengers calm and continuing to do their primary job of getting people on planes and in the air. No one was losing their tempers.
For a lot of people, flying can be extraordinarily stressful, so any change or shift is reason for panic. This particular situation didn’t escalate into pandemonium because the employees were very good at their jobs — they knew more than one way to complete the tasks at hand and were well-trained in their understanding of plans B and C. Each employee during each step of the process was able to keep their calm, which allowed them to keep their customers calm.
This is clearly a metaphor for life’s little and sometimes not-so-little challenges. When we have a system reboot, are we prepared to go to plan B? Do we even know how to formulate a plan B? It is our ability to stay in flow regardless of the shifts and challenges that happen in life that keeps us calm. It’s when we know ourselves well enough to be able to quickly formulate plans B, C or D that we can keep ourselves in motion and prevent a meltdown.
Things often don’t go as planned. At times, this can feel like a disaster of epic proportions. When death or dismemberment is not the issue, I suggest having a snack and a glass of water. I know this seems like an odd thing to suggest — but low blood sugar and dehydration play a huge role in your ability to think clearly and rationally in a lot of situations.
After that, I suggest a bathroom break. It doesn’t matter if you actually need to use the restroom. This is your opportunity to breathe — to take a rest, if you will. Sometimes you find your emotions getting out of control, causing a situation that may not have been a disaster to escalate well past reason. When you give yourself the opportunity to breathe, hold your tongue and take a step back from a situation, very often the solution presents itself. At the very least, you’ve calmed down enough to take a true assessment of the situation to formulate a plan of action. This also prevents you from saying hurtful/hateful things that you can’t take back because calling people names will get you nowhere.
It is important to point out that life happens. Things often don’t go as they are planned, and sometimes it’s better! As we know, control is an illusion, so everything is essentially out of your control. The only thing you can control is how you react, how you shift when things change. Roll with the changes, life will hand you lemons, not only can you make lemonade, you can also set up a lemonade stand and make enough money to take a fabulous vacation.
The thing to remember is this, even if it’s not your first choice, there is always a solution. There is always a way out, a way through, a plan B. ′
