On Saturday morning, I rolled out my yoga mat, started stretching and chatted with a few friends as we waited to begin our 8:30 a.m. power flow class.
At 8:27 a.m., the teacher had still not arrived, so the owner made a call to see what was going on.
I could hear her conversation just outside the door, and after a quick minute she moved into the classroom and said the scheduled instructor had overslept.
“Just give me a quick sec to change and I’ll teach,” she said. “Cool, I never teach on Saturdays, so I guess this was meant to be.”
This woman did not miss a beat. She didn’t seem irritated about her sleepy-head employee. She didn’t appear stressed about needing to change her routine. And most surprising, she was chipper and positive about the unexpected opportunity to teach.
Chalk it up to her being a yoga teacher and her Zen outlook on life, but as I watched this scenario unfold in a matter of just five minutes, I found myself admiring this individual.
She simply embraced the moment and made it work for all involved.
How can I be more like that, I thought.
Lately – and I’m sure I’m being a tad dramatic – it feels as if the universe is working against me.
There was the news about my company relocating to Texas. A week later, I backed my car into another car – minor damage, but still a pain. Then there have been the technology delays and glitches with a major project I’m managing at work. We’re supposed to launch this week, but every day has delivered a new fire drill.
On a good week, I generally feel like I’m walking a tightrope with the juggle of kids, career and life. Lately, it seems I am gripping that same tightrope by a fingernail, and it doesn’t feel so good.
Still, as so many people have told me, I can either worry and stress, or do my best to “roll with it.”
Without a doubt, motherhood has helped me realize things often go off course. Schedules change, kids get sick, tantrums flare, treasures get lost, and sibling battles erupt.
I’ve always had a high threshold for stress, and I am wired to work quickly. Those years of journalism training helped me learn to write with noisy crowds and file stories at payphones mere minutes after a sporting event concluded.
I transitioned those learnings into the corporate world, making changes to executive presentations with ease, responding to media inquiries and sucking it up when budgets and projects were cut.
I’ve been called a “cool cucumber,” and colleagues have told me I never give off the vibe of being stressed. I am definitely not perfect at home – and I fully admit I “lose it” on the kids when they take me to the edge.
But now, more than ever, I feel out-of-control. I feel pressure and stress and the need to solve all of these issues by myself.
This new wave of disruption – or maybe I should call it opportunity – has smacked me around and taken me to my knees.
Each day, I’m praying for the strength to process these changes in a positive, healthy way. I don’t think I’m quite as Zen as that yoga teacher, but perhaps in time I’ll learn how to “roll with it” and discover the universe is not really working against me, but nudging me somewhere new – to a place I’m supposed to be and just haven’t yet realized.
How do you handle intense moments of change and stress? Do you “roll with it” or fight?