Spontaneity Vs. Sensible Planning

Throughout all of my travels, there are two things that I NEED to control and plan out before I go:

1. How am I getting from the airport to my place to sleep for that night?

2. Where am I going to sleep that night?

Maybe you’re someone who loves the idea of going to the airport with an everyday bag of basic essentials, throwing a dart at the airport screen (likely getting arrested for bringing a dart into the airport and throwing it) but just “winging it” (no plane pun intended).

Maybe you like the idea of playing it by ear with destinations, accommodations, and everything in between!

If you like to live like that, more power to you!

However, if you are like me, then you are fond of being able to control at least some (maybe all) of the details, to ensure that you at least have a safe place to sleep once you land in a new and foreign country!

If you identify more with this method of thinking, then you will perhaps benefit as I have from knowing:

“You control what you think, say, and do. The rest? It is not up to you.”

(Hey! A rhyme!)

I find this quote particularly helpful, because it reminds me that I do not have control over other things (as much as I may wish I did), and that quite frankly, all of that other stuff is not my responsibility!

How refreshing and liberating.

I sure wish I had embraced this mantra when I missed my plane home connecting from Israel to Newark’s severely understaffed airport.

To repeat (and bring us back from my bitter tangent):

“You control what you think, say, and do. The rest? It is not up to you.”

You are officially set free from being responsible for anything other than what you think, say, or do.

If you are a responsible and organized individual in this often unpredictable world, this may be just what you needed to hear, (er, read.)

World travel comes with many many MANY uncontrollable factors, so it is important to

1. Accept that you can’t control everything

2. Embrace a sense of adventure (or at least humor) for handling the unexpected

My Israel to Newark story is a great example of one of my anxiety-produced “dark side moments” before turning to the liberated light (Ooh storytime!)

I was traveling with a tour group, among which were my mother, grandmother, and godmother. Once the whole group (40-ish or so people) landed, we had a very short window to make it through security, and to our next gate.

We were distraught to find a line at security that wrapped at least a mile through the airport, because they only had two security desks open! TWO OPEN DESKS. DURING SPRING BREAK.

(Feel free to scream in horrified disbelief).

WELL those of us in the group who were more adept at shoving through people actually did catch the flight, and told them to wait for us (which they didn’t).

I, however chose to stay behind with my grandmother and godmother to make sure that they made it too.

I recall one very dramatic moment in which I hailed down an airport “taxi” and begged him to drive us to the gate. He obliged (bless him), as I desperately screamed “MOVE!” at the oblivious airport pedestrians in our way…..

I GUESS you could say that was not my finest or most poised of moments…*coughs uncomfortably*

So we missed the flight.

But guess what? I made it home! Not when I originally expected to, but eventually. And now, looking back, all of that stress, the rage, the (ahem) screaming, doesn’t even seem like it was necessary.

That was when I took a turn towards the light, the even-tempered, and the flexible in the face of travel drama, all fueled by the mantra that I hope you will also adopt.

“You control what you think, say, and do. The rest? It is not up to you.”

As you embark on your travels, you may still have moments like mine, where panic and anxiety take over, and that is okay! You will survive them, as I did.

I advise you to catch yourself in those moments, acknowledge how you are feeling, take a deep breath, and repeat some version of this mantra/rhyme to yourself until you are able to regain perspective on the situation.

Remember:

It is highly unlikely that you will be stuck like Tom Hanks in “The Terminal.”

It is highly LIKELY that you will make it to your destination, and that everything will be okay.

 

Thanks for reading!

(I would love to hear any success stories that you all have from unexpected turns of events while traveling, or in life! What methods work for you?)

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