Tears running down her face, filled with frustration, and feeling absolutely discouraged, Melody stood in the customer service line. The vacation that she had worked so hard for seemed to be coming to a devastating halt. She couldn’t see a way to repair it.
She saw the lady pushing a walker toward her, with a big bag on it.
“Do you happen to have any tissue in there?” she asked through her sniffles.
The nice lady dug for them and handed her the pack. She then asked the tear-stained mom if she wanted to share what had happened.
In a nutshell – the hours of the park they were visiting were cut super short that day – unbeknownst to them when they booked it, and while they had planned a full day, they had overslept and then learned that since it was closing 3 hours early, they would only have a few hours there. She was completely deflated.
She was hoping to talk with someone in customer service and get some solution that could work for them to be able to get the trip that they had paid for.
Upon hearing the tale, the nice lady (ok, it was me!) … I started working to help her change her story. Not that what was happening wasn’t a major bummer, it was – but staying in that mindset was possibly going to ruin the rest of their trip. I began gently talking with her to help so that when she got to the counter, that she would be able to talk with them in a calmer manner.
I encouraged her to expect a positive outcome. I helped her to talk it through and feel some validation for her feelings, and to know that no matter what, she could be proud of how hard she had worked to get here. (She had told me about working two jobs and saving for this trip.)
After us talking for just a few moments, the tears seemed to have settled.
They then called her to the counter.
I had to wait just a bit longer before my turn.
When I went to leave, I saw her and her children waiting off to the side. Someone was working on it, but there was no answer yet.
My curiosity was strong, so I asked if we could exchange numbers. I also wasn’t sure what part I could play, but I wanted to make sure that their vacation was memorable in a good way.
I was so pleased to get a text from her a bit later letting me know that yes indeed, they had been blessed in a positive manner and it had been worked out for them!
It got me thinking though, how often we allow circumstance to steal our power.
You see, I had seen a TikTok yesterday about a mama explaining to her little boy that when we allow someone else to cause us to get really angry and scream and cry, that we are actually handing that person our bag of power. It made so much sense. She explained about stopping and placing our hand on our heart and breathing and taking control of ourselves, not giving our power away.
Things are going to happen, but it is our choice of how we let it affect us.
What I realized is how often I too have been like my new friend Melody. How in the past I have been blindsided by a situation and have totally let loose of my power. I immediately looked at the worst-case scenario and lost all hope.
I realized how brilliant that TikTok mom was with pointing out if we take a moment, place our hand on our heart and take a breath, we can hang on to our power. We can sometimes see the chance of a good outcome. That instead of losing those moments during the in between, that we can know that it is ‘this or something better’. (an Amanda Frances quote.)
Obviously, I couldn’t be sure that the customer service person was going to find a good solution for Jenna. What I could do though, was help her to expect that they would.
Do you know that you have the power to do that? Yup. We have the power to expect good things.
I know so often I have heard people make comments expecting the worst; and I wonder why?
I mean honestly, we don’t want the worst to happen, do we? So, why would we call that in? Why give up our power to call in the best?
I am so glad that it turned out well for Melody and her family. I am so thankful that I was there to be reminded that good does happen, and that we have the power to expect good.
I hope that this little tale has caused you to think about what it is that you are expecting, and how you are going to handle the next time something looks like it isn’t going the way that you wanted it too.
Don’t hand away your power.
Expecting the best, Amy
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