OK, let’s begin the rehearsal. Let’s say you have planned a flight across the country. What if the plane is not on schedule? What if you are late, will the rental car be there? What if it is snowing when you get there. What if your bags get lost, what are you going to do? What if there is turbulence in flight, will you be scared, will you get sick and embarrass yourself? What if the plane crashes. The whole trip will be ruined.
OK, rehearsal is complete. You don’t have to be taking a flight across country for this scenario to be true, we rehearse things going awry all the time. Perhaps we tell ourselves this is to make certain we are prepared for any situation, and maybe that is partly true, but I think what we are really and truly doing is rehearsing to fail!
I am going to put on those rose colored glasses I wrote about a few weeks ago and share with you how I approach my own travel.
I take the same amount of energy I would have used to visualize disaster during my travel, and visualize on-time flights, easy connections, carefree baggage experiences, only the easiest of flights and a totally delightful experience. I use the same amount of energy if would have to rehearse for trouble, I rehearse for success and I get on that flight relaxed and ready for a wonderful day.
In setting this stage, in doing this rehearsal, I also open myself up to the possibility of a flight delay, altered timelines and occasional turbulence as being just a momentary thing; not the end of the world. In fact on one occasion a flight delay resulted in me having an unplanned, delightful meal with an old friend, and extra cash in my pocket from the airline.
Go ahead, rehearse your troubles if you must, but once, just once, open yourself up to rehearsing your success instead. As the old commercial told us, “It’s the only way to fly!”
