When annoyance becomes gratitude

Where do you find moments of gratitude in your day?

Sometimes, they come in the most unlikely of places.

Recently, I’ve been flying much more often for gigs. 

Now, as many of you road-warrior experts know, traveling can be a real pain in the ass with all of the variables at play. 

Bad weather, absent flight crew, no plane at the gate, last-minute cancellations, plane malfunction - preferably on the ground and not in the air…

The list goes on and on.  

Well, the other day, I had an especially rough go of it. 

While sitting on the tarmac for what felt like hours, I was pretty pissed off. 

Delay on top of delay on top of delay - and that was before we boarded.

I had had enough…although, of course, I was powerless to change a damn thing.

So what was I to do? 

I got it! Go on social media and bitch these people out! That’ll tame the savage beast growling inside my head.

I see these types of posts all the time from other speakers, and I can empathize with their pain, especially at this very moment.

I had Facebook open on my phone and I was about to unleash hell…

And then, in what seemed like an impossible-at-the-time, moment of clarity, I paused and marinated on how I was reacting. 

And then, I responded to my mental rage-athon with facts: 

You know, when you started this business in 2014, when the phone didn’t ring for months at a time, and you charged $75 for a headshot, you could only dream of finding yourself in a situation where you’re on a delayed plane paid for by a client, to then get in a cab paid for by the client, to go to a hotel paid for by the client to shoot a fully paid gig that you absolutely love to do more than anything in this world.

Rather than allow this delay to ruin your mood and your day, use this moment to celebrate that you’ve come a long way, and are on a path that fulfills you while serving people who help others get past what’s holding them back. 

So…quit your bitching and count your blessings. 

Let’s face it, I needed to drop the hammer on myself. And it worked.

This mental reframe went a long way to helping me stay present and not become a cranky asshole on the fully-packed plane. 

What started out as an emotional dumpster fire of biblical proportions became an important, and much needed, moment of gratitude. 

In this moment, I truly did feel grateful that I was in this position because everything I said to myself was 100% true. 

After the travel delay worked itself out and I was on the other side of the country, I realized that I needed this delay to happen to remind myself to make time to be grateful. 

Grateful for family, friends, colleagues, my business and my art. 

I often spend far too much time focusing on what’s wrong, and not enough on what’s right. But, if I did that mental reframe switcheroo, I realize that there’s WAY more going right than not…

…If I simply change the story I’m telling myself. 

The next time you find yourself ready to throw someone through an airport window in a wild fit of rage, give yourself a moment to pause, marinate and respond to that anger with logic, reason and reality. 

And give yourself a chance to be grateful that you could be in so many worse-off places in that moment. But fortunately, you’re not…

…because you have a lot of RIGHT going on in your life. 

Over to you…

Have you ever found a moment of gratitude in an otherwise upsetting experience? How were you able to reign back the anger and get present in the moment?

Please share your story in the comment section below.