I’m flying back from Florida tonight and The Gap and The Gain starts playing. Typical of the universe hitting the right notes at the right time.

Flying in the evening is an amateur travel move. It’s one of the things I despise most, right up there next to contemporary country or “butt rock.”

Flying first thing in the AM is a far superior move. Less shit goes wrong with delays and the crowd is typically better travelers.

I’m sure you get the point. Today is already weird since we don’t start traveling until after 5:30PM. It’s so weird to kill time between leaving an Airbnb at 11AM and needing to be at the airport in the late afternoon. I could go to the gym, but traveling post-training leaves me super gross and smelling like a turtle tank.

Two delays already and now we don’t land back at home till midnight. My annoyance grows quickly here. I didn’t book this. I have other shit to do, I had plans for when I got home. Blah blah blah.

It is easy to get in this spiral of shit, letting it wash over you and blaming this circumstance for ruining the day. By not hitting this expectation of how I imagined today would go, it’s easy to be bummed, frustrated, and angry. Which soon follows with me being mad and shitty to strangers and my partner. It doesn’t have to follow this set path of emotion. You can change this situation and still have a good day.

I simply shifted my thinking to that of abundance. Since my flight was later, I had time for a great call with my mentorship group the 1612. Bonnie and I had an opportunity to go to the gym and I knocked out a 5k on the treadmill followed by mobility work. This keeps goals on track and consistency in my efforts. There was still time to get more work done at the airport. Had I been home already, I would have pushed it all off until tomorrow. I even started a new book, which prompted this writing.

And I’m still getting home later. I can’t do a single thing about that. It just is at this point, and no amount of me being an asshole to other passengers, Bonnie, or myself, is going to get me home earlier.

So overall, I got a lot accomplished. Today was a great day simply by taking time to appreciate what I actually did accomplish. Or I could’ve focused on the negatives and made it a shitty day. Either way, the outcome is the same.

In five years, I’ll never remove this flight delay or late night arrival. So why let it take control of today?

I say, “Fuck that. I own my day. No way Delta gets a chance to fuck with my vibe.” I’m in control of the things I can control. My mind and my perspective on the situation is the biggest thing to my advantage every day.

The truth is, I’ve been slightly inconvenienced just like everyone else on my flight. I am not unique in this, and my problems are no more important than anyone else’s. It’s up to me if today was great or not. I chose it to be great. I will continue to work on acknowledging the truth of my accomplishments and not focusing on what didn’t meet my expectations.

This is a skill you can develop. It’s never-ending work to improve how you manage your perspective in challenging circumstances. You have to get the reps in of being happy on small bullshit like this to manage the really hard stuff like relationship infidelity, death, loss of jobs, relapse, or a business closing, and still come out with a lesson to go forward with.

Tonight’s lesson for me: me arriving home at midnight happy or pissed is up to me, and me alone. It also has no bearing whatsoever on how I choose to live tomorrow.

I’ll take a second and breathe. 6 big breaths, and 6 big holds on release. Change my perspective and appreciate the opportunity I have to travel. If this slight annoyance was the cost for the great weekend, it is always worth it.

Here’s to another incredible week ahead. I’m thankful for what I learned from last week. I’m looking forward to this week's challenges and the opportunity to handle things like the confident problem solving machine focused on progress that I am.

1254 weeks to go.
Tick tock

SPREAD HVIII, ALWAYS PARTY
Matt

March 14, 2022