I try not to get disappointed anymore when things don’t go my way. How about you?
Most likely many of us have had or know someone who has had an experience, where something happens that at first feels like bad luck or even a disaster. Then some time later, realizes, it was the best thing that could ever have happened.
Well, I have a friend who was in a terrible marriage. Her husband beat her up almost every day. Finally, she got the courage and left him. She went to Australia and soon after met her dream partner, and they’ve now been together for almost 20 years.
One of my work colleagues experienced an even more dramatic outcome when after a weeklong business trip he wanted to fly home on a Friday night. He bought a ticket and got to the gate just in time to see the door close. Even though he was virtually a second too late, the employee could not be convinced to let him go through. He told me he was pretty mad. He now had to spend the night in a hotel room instead of being home with his family. The next morning, he heard on the news that the very plane he missed crashed and everyone in it died.
I, too, have a story to tell. I was waiting at the San Francisco Airport to board a plane back to Switzerland. My thoughts were busy organizing my next day. It was my brother-in-law’s birthday and my sister had planned a big party. I was worried that I would be exhausted from the long trip. It came to my mind to ask for an upgrade to business class so I could rest more easily. I went to the counter and sure enough, they had just one seat left in the business section. The attendant handed me the new ticket, and I happily started to walk away. Then I remembered that I had ordered a vegan meal. I went back to the counter and asked the lady if they would forward the special meal to my new seat. With that, she snatched my ticket, tore it up, and said, “In that case, we can’t do an upgrade!” She issued me a new ticket for my old seat and then disappeared. All this went so fast that I could not react. I stood, taken aback, disappointed, and then I got mad. I just couldn’t understand why they couldn’t make such a simple change. However, I soon made peace with the situation. The disappointment of not being able to fly business class didn’t last long. I told myself, It is what it is, and it’s not worth getting upset.
I boarded the plane and headed for my seat. There it was, my window seat. Right behind me was a lady who said, “Oh, my seat is right next to yours!” We both looked at each other, smiled, and were happy to have someone nice next to us. We got comfortable in our seats and started to casually chitchat. Misha and I found we had similar interests and soon the conversation became very interesting. The 12-hour flight literally flew by.
This sparked the beginning of a long friendship. Just this year we celebrated our 10th anniversary when Misha came to see me in Switzerland. She and her husband live near San Francisco and, as I do, spend vacation time on Maui or Kauai. We have been visiting each year in one of our homes and continue to have a wonderful time together.
Sometimes a loss becomes a gain, and an unfortunate occurrence becomes a fortunate one! We get gifted by the universe so often. Instead of getting disappointed, I think, Maybe there is a purpose behind it all. Maybe there is something much bigger waiting for me, for us!
As was so profoundly spoken in the film, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, “Everything works out in the end. If it hasn’t worked out, it’s not the end.”