Yesterday, my flight got delayed.
The first announcement was that the plane had been sitting in the sun all day and the A/C wasn’t able to cool off the inside of the plane enough to allow people to board. So they told us they were going to keep trying and keep us posted.
The second announcement was that they attached a separate A/C unit onto the plane that should help expedite the cooling process.
The third announcement was that the previously mentioned A/C unit wasn’t working and was only blowing more hot outside air into the plane.
The fourth announcement was that they were going to have us fly out on a completely different plane that was still 40 minutes away from landing at the airport.
And finally, after around three hours of delays, we finally were able to board the freshly landed plane.
You can imagine the irritation and frustration experienced by the people waiting at that gate.
The people I was with, however, ended up having a great time.
We had some great conversations. We joked and laughed. We shared ideas, pictures, and videos. And, in retrospect, it ended up not being a three hour inconvenience, but a three hour opportunity to connect more deeply with the people I happened to be delayed with.
When you stop letting things outside of your control ruin your state… suddenly… your state isn’t ruined nearly as often. Because, generally speaking, your state is always something that’s within your control. Get it?
It’s as John Wooden so famously once said, “Things turn out the best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out.”