Making the Best of It: A Lesson in Spontaneity and Self-Care
We all know that life doesn’t always pan out the way we had hoped for. Surprises pop up all the time, and it’s so important to be present and aware of our responses and choices that we make in the moment. So many times I have found myself letting the situation make the choice for me, when if I was more intentional, I might have had a better outcome with the surprise.
I heard a great story the other day…
A friend of mine, Faye, had headed down to Beverly Hills for an appointment with her orthopedic surgeon. Years ago she had hip replacements, and needed to get in for her ‘maintenance’ visit. She had waited for over a month for this appointment, and left early to give herself ample time to arrive.
Well, as life goes, her navigation in her car decided not to work that day, and she didn’t want to be looking at her phone’s navigation while driving. In the end, she found herself stuck in ugly traffic miles away from her destination when the appointment time arrived. They had only given her a 15 minute grace window, and she was much further away than 15 minutes.
She was frustrated for a moment, then had a lightbulb idea. “‘I feel that Disneyland is this direction”, she thought. Since she didn’t want to waste the day,and traffic going back was horrendous, she continued in the direction she was going and found Disneyland!. Once she arrived at the Disneyland Hotel, she found herself at the valet parking. She thought to herself, ‘What the heck, let’s do valet’.
Upon entering the hotel with all things Disney, she looked around and saw a pool area. Thinking it would be nice to spend some time relaxing next to the water, she went over only to discover that you needed a room key. Not in any rush, she just took a little time to enjoy the view outside the gates, watching the families enjoying themselves. Faye was just thinking, “How lovely it would be to come here with my children and grandchildren”, when a woman walked out the gate to go back to her room.
Faye didn’t see the harm in entering before the gate closed, and had a lovely time lying by the pool, enjoying the ambiance and chatting with some of the families nearby. After a while, she decided it was time to go and have some lunch. She found one of the three restaurants at Downtown Disney that would validate valet parking, enjoying a wonderful poke’ bowl and got her valet parking validated so it was free!
After lunch, she walked around a bit in the shops at Downtown Disney, took some pictures of herself wearing Vintage Mickey Mouse ears, sent her daughter the picture to announce where she was and for a sweet she found a place to have a black cherry shake. Talk about taking yourself out on a nice outing!
Afterwards she came home, spending the wasted gas and appointment time treating her inner child at a fraction of the cost of a full day at Disneyland.
What an intentional way to be present in the moment, and make choices that benefited and uplifted her day, rather than turning straight around in nasty traffic and spending that time frustrated. She took great care of herself!
I would like to think that I would have been as creative with my situation as Faye was… What would you have done? Drop me a line, I would love to hear it. (:
Hey, and if you have ever wondered if coaching would be a plus for you but aren’t quite sure, let’s hope on a quick zoom!! I would love to answer any questions you might have! In the meantime, enjoy your life, and look for those turnarounds!!