With any luck when this post is published I should be on a plane to Phoenix Arizona and I'm going to be so happy to be on my way.
First – a little backstory. I had originally planned to leave Green Bay early Monday morning and go to Vermont for Big Snow Tiny Conf where I'd be talking with business owners and doing a little skiing on the side…
Incomes the polar vortex and all flights out of Green Bay & Chicago were cancelled and I wont be able to make it to the conference. As much as I'm disappointed I know that I'll soon be going to Arizona to warm up and I'll hit Big Snow next year. A short two hours before my flight is supposed to leave on Thursday I get an email saying that the flight was cancelled. No reason other than it's cancelled. I've been booked for Friday (today) and if all goes according to plan I should be headed to that warm weather only a day late.
That's the happy bright side of me talking. Before I was in this happy side I was frustrated.
Frustration Has No Value
The unfortunate part of being frustrated is that it's a totally worthless emotion. What does it do? Where does it get you? The most the usually comes out of frustration is an angry tweet (guilty).
I've decided I'm going to make an Escape From Green Bay movie.
— Patrick Rauland (@BFTrick) January 9, 2014
Accept Frustration
I thought about writing an angry blog post about how awful the travel situation is – and maybe that post should be written, but not by me, not right now. What good does an angry post do? I'm doing the only thing I can do and that is accepting that I'm frustrated.
Rather than moping I've decided to have dinner with friends. Will I be talking about my frustration with my friends? Probably a sentence or two – just the facts. There's no point in living it anew.
I'm done. I'm past it. There's no value there. I'm going to wait patiently & have a good time with friends while I do so. I hope when you get frustrated as you will with everything in life that you can take a breath. Breathe. Accept. And move on.
Sometimes they can help. But a post reminding us that we have the power to move beyond frustration by choosing how we react is much better. Thanks for publishing – always good to have these reminders in daily life.
That said, I do want to see the Escape From Green Bay movie… especially for your take of the surfing scene haha.
That is a fantastic scene! I’ll have to replace it with some sort of cross country skiing away from a grizzly bear scene. 🙂
oh, patrick! have fun in chicago! i’m glad i sent you with food! i’m free this weekend if they send you back to geebs. welcome to the hotel green bay, wi, where you can enter but you may never leave.
You’re a very lucky fellow to have learnt so early in life that grievances lead nowhere but to your own personal discomfort. Lucky, lucky you!
May Arizona fill you with joy.
I have always believed that when something goes “wrong” there is something waiting in the wings to be glad for, often even better than what was planned.
Green Bay, WI? Where do you live now?
I’m working on a plan to get out of here (gb,wi). I’m also involved with ecommerce and recently discovered woo. I was a ror developer for years but am now a believer of woo. What a time saver!
I live in Denver now. Come to Denver and check it out. Might help you escape GB faster. 🙂