What if Things Don’t Go Right?

“Whatever self-inflicted crisis I find myself in, her assurance has always been true. It’s okay. No matter how stressed or panicked I may feel, it has always been okay.”

Sometimes things just don’t go right. Our plans get knocked over. People don’t show up. We make bad decisions and get in uncomfortable situations. The kind that make us think, “well, this couldn’t get any worse.” It happened to me during a trip to Arizona that had already kept me on my toes. I was hurrying to get from one place to the next, so overwhelmed that I was rushing to go to the bathroom before boarding my flight that was due to close boarding. Walking into the women’s restroom was definitely not on my list of things to do. But then it happened.

The bathroom mix-up was one of those moments that spirals into a comedy of errors. It left me red-faced and caught in an awkward predicament considering I initally thought a woman had accidentally walked into the mens restroom. Turns out, it I was the one that had to get crafty to try to leave unnoticed. As much as I thought the coast was clear, I was very wrong. However, coming face to face with the woman old enough to be my mother was maybe what I needed at the time.

There are times the weight of unexpected setbacks and challenges piles up. In the midst of traveling I was also dealing with website and email downtime, tax errors, and was falling behind on recording Lee Cockerell’s audio book. It can be frustrating and overwhelming when things don’t go as planned. But as the woman said to me as I explained I made a mistake entering the women’s room, “it’s okay.”

Sometimes the best way to navigate through unexpected hurdles is with humor, grace, and a whole lot of awkward apologies. Remember this simple message of encouragement when things don’t go right. Because they won’t, and it’s okay.