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WHAT NOW? Wednesdays – When Laughter is Good Medicine
I started to write a blog with some job tips this week and never could finish it. For what it’s worth, I’ll do my best to share some valuable career tips when I get back from vacation. In the meantime, I thought I’d share what I’ve learned personally this week in case it has any value to others.
A lot has changed in the past 5 months since I planned my 1st big vacation in 8 years. For me, a big vacation = all-inclusive with no planning meals, cooking, cleaning, etc. When my husband agreed on our anniversary last year that it would be good to go ahead with a 15 year anniversary trip to Jamaica like we discussed 8 years ago, I jumped at the chance. I rationalized that we should take advantage of his recent commission check while we have healthy grandparents nearby to take care of our son. Sounded like a good plan at the time…
Of course this was last year before the economic news became all doom and gloom, so of course I soon felt GUILTY for spending that non-refundable money. Then one after the other, things started happening to make me doubt the decision after the money was spent. Starting with:
1) Both sets of normally healthy grandparents needed unexpected surgery and recovery time.
2) Air Jamaica cancelled all flights out of Atlanta 2 days before our trip. We were eventually re-booked on Delta, which just shortened the vacation 4 hours.
3) My grand plan to work hard to get into summer shape early fell short due to a recently diagnosed thyroid problem.
4) My husband is an insurance claims adjuster on commission and with recent storms he’ll be missing out on a lot of work opportunities ($$$$) while we’re gone.
5) Hubby got scared after recent plane crashes and decided he didn’t want to fly together due to fear of orphaning our son. He couldn’t care less about statistics showing we are 200 times more likely to orphan him while driving to the airport. So $200+ later we are on different flights and the vacation is now 3 additional hours shorter.
6) We just found out our son’s 1st baseball game and opening ceremonies are the day we leave so we’ll miss it.
7) After working out daily on adjusted thyroid medicine (finally getting results) and trying to look my best, part of my front tooth (previously chipped and repaired) fell off 2 days ago. After an emergency dentist appointment yesterday it looks fine but I missed a half day at work 2 days before vacation.
8) Hubby just relapsed with bad cold and is like a walking zombie unable to deal with any details of the trip.
9) I decided to check online at Delta this evening to verify if my skymiles were credited to my new flight after they were deleted with the flight change (thanks to paranoid hubby). I discovered that the travel agent messed up the change, and even though I’ve paid for the trip and changes, he cancelled my existing flight and never booked the new one. So after 5 months of planning and money spent, as of now I’m 3 days from leaving and NOT EVEN CONFIRMED on a flight.
10) I’m curious to see how the next 48 hours go and if this long anticipated trip ever happens.
So what now? I laugh. I actually laughed the most at #7 because I looked really funny for someone trying to look good for a trip that may never happen. Sure there’s been some stress and disappointment along the way but I truly see some humor in this and have learned a few things.
#1 – I should never get too excited about things that haven’t happened yet.
#2 – Impulse decisions based on emotional rationale are often not in my best interest.
#3 – Sometimes disappointments happen for a reason and it feels good to laugh about some of them.
#4 – I have so much to be thankful for in life that this is all pretty trivial and that makes it easier to find some humor in it.
I think some of this can relate to expectations and disappointments in our careers. As we look back, it’s easy to consider different or better choices. But I think it’s more important to learn and make the most of our decisions with a positive attitude. For me, laughing at myself helps. A lot.
A lot has changed in the past 5 months since I planned my 1st big vacation in 8 years. For me, a big vacation = all-inclusive with no planning meals, cooking, cleaning, etc. When my husband agreed on our anniversary last year that it would be good to go ahead with a 15 year anniversary trip to Jamaica like we discussed 8 years ago, I jumped at the chance. I rationalized that we should take advantage of his recent commission check while we have healthy grandparents nearby to take care of our son. Sounded like a good plan at the time…
Of course this was last year before the economic news became all doom and gloom, so of course I soon felt GUILTY for spending that non-refundable money. Then one after the other, things started happening to make me doubt the decision after the money was spent. Starting with:
1) Both sets of normally healthy grandparents needed unexpected surgery and recovery time.
2) Air Jamaica cancelled all flights out of Atlanta 2 days before our trip. We were eventually re-booked on Delta, which just shortened the vacation 4 hours.
3) My grand plan to work hard to get into summer shape early fell short due to a recently diagnosed thyroid problem.
4) My husband is an insurance claims adjuster on commission and with recent storms he’ll be missing out on a lot of work opportunities ($$$$) while we’re gone.
5) Hubby got scared after recent plane crashes and decided he didn’t want to fly together due to fear of orphaning our son. He couldn’t care less about statistics showing we are 200 times more likely to orphan him while driving to the airport. So $200+ later we are on different flights and the vacation is now 3 additional hours shorter.
6) We just found out our son’s 1st baseball game and opening ceremonies are the day we leave so we’ll miss it.
7) After working out daily on adjusted thyroid medicine (finally getting results) and trying to look my best, part of my front tooth (previously chipped and repaired) fell off 2 days ago. After an emergency dentist appointment yesterday it looks fine but I missed a half day at work 2 days before vacation.
8) Hubby just relapsed with bad cold and is like a walking zombie unable to deal with any details of the trip.
9) I decided to check online at Delta this evening to verify if my skymiles were credited to my new flight after they were deleted with the flight change (thanks to paranoid hubby). I discovered that the travel agent messed up the change, and even though I’ve paid for the trip and changes, he cancelled my existing flight and never booked the new one. So after 5 months of planning and money spent, as of now I’m 3 days from leaving and NOT EVEN CONFIRMED on a flight.
10) I’m curious to see how the next 48 hours go and if this long anticipated trip ever happens.
So what now? I laugh. I actually laughed the most at #7 because I looked really funny for someone trying to look good for a trip that may never happen. Sure there’s been some stress and disappointment along the way but I truly see some humor in this and have learned a few things.
#1 – I should never get too excited about things that haven’t happened yet.
#2 – Impulse decisions based on emotional rationale are often not in my best interest.
#3 – Sometimes disappointments happen for a reason and it feels good to laugh about some of them.
#4 – I have so much to be thankful for in life that this is all pretty trivial and that makes it easier to find some humor in it.
I think some of this can relate to expectations and disappointments in our careers. As we look back, it’s easy to consider different or better choices. But I think it’s more important to learn and make the most of our decisions with a positive attitude. For me, laughing at myself helps. A lot.
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