Planes, Trains and Automobiles

The next 2 weeks are full of travel for me. Both business and pleasure and even the business is pleasurable. It’s planes, trains and automobiles as I navigate around the country. It is also, I realized, six different places I’ll be laying my head at night.

I traveled by train to Portland to catch my flight to Austin, and looking around, I saw a microcosm of humanity. Over here was a young man covered with tattoos and sporting his earbuds. Across the aisle from me were two women who had never met before, yet sounded like best friends. Next to me was a grandmother going to visit her new grandson for the first time. A couple rows up was a middle aged man with a duffle bag who, I was certain, was off to explore the country. Up front was a mom and her four young, very energetic yet well-behaved kids. And all of different races riding the rail together.

I can’t help but wonder where all these people are going. We all have our stories, so what is theirs?

In my mind, I create the story, and it’s usually the most far-fetched. It helps me to step out of judgment and negativity, frees my creativity, passes the time and it’s just plain fun. I like to think that the people I’m observing would be flattered by my story, or at least find them entertaining (as I would), and I’m also aware that some may feel it’s an invasion of their privacy or view it in some otherwise negative way, so of course I’m discreet.

Which reminds me of another tactic I have used in the past. While I had forgotten about it, I found it very useful and perhaps it’s time to revive it. This one revolved around a particularly difficult day of travel, delayed flights, seat mix ups, the usual, and my patience was nearing it’s end.

Once I finally got to my correct seat and settled in, I knew I had to change my attitude from one of grumbling. So, I chose to find something nice about each person that boarded. This person was kind to the other passengers. That person had a fun way of expressing themselves. He had good taste in shoes. She had a nice smile.

This took me out of my agitated self, and put a smile on my face. I had the power to shift my perspective and that’s exactly what I did.

I share this all because I know how challenging travel is these days and WE have the power to change our perspective. And, it goes without saying that it’s not just with travel, but any time your mind starts going down the ugly road. You might decide to give one of these tactics a try, or you might have your own you use. Please share!