Do you know those days when you wonder why so little seems to go according to plan? When we drove from Berlin to Hamburg on Monday, we were actually making good time. Sure, we didn’t immediately find the drop-off area for our luggage at the cruise terminal, but no big deal. Then Google Maps sent me to three different gas stations. According to the map, they all existed. In the real Hamburg? Not so much. When we finally arrived at the train station after returning our rental car, we got on what we thought was the right subway. Unfortunately, it was heading in exactly the wrong direction. Those little moments that can really get on your nerves.
But somewhere in between, I kept thinking: There must be a reason this is happening. As soon as we arrived at the harbor, we ran into Patrick from TUI Cruises, who had been responsible for an event cruise we were fortunate enough to be part of a few months ago.
Our friend and General Manager Doreen was standing right at the check-in counter when we arrived. Our friends and fellow Caribbean Rebels, the Kuper family, literally ran into us in the stairwell. Shortly afterward, we met Cruise Director Mario by the elevator, and our friend Axel Brümmer was sitting with his buddy Jan in the Tag & Nacht Bistro.
Then we arrived a few minutes early for the guest artist meeting. At that exact moment, René Meusel, TUI Cruises’ Head of Entertainment from Berlin, briefly walked into the room, said hello, and had to head off again straight away. And it just kept going like that.
It’s all pretty crazy when you think about it, isn’t it? Because five seconds earlier or later could have changed everything. If we had found the gas station immediately, taken the right subway, or if everything had gone exactly according to our original plan, we might not have “randomly” met a single one of our friends that afternoon.
Knowing what we know now, were all those little annoying delays really “setbacks”? Or were they simply things whose meaning we couldn’t see yet? Because in the moment itself, all we usually notice is that things aren’t happening the way we planned or expected them to. Maybe from today on, it will feel a little easier to trust life a bit more.
There’s one question that always helps me: What if you simply can’t know yet what something might be good for? Or, as I often like to remind myself: Who knows what this might be good for?
Of course, that’s easy to say when everything is going according to plan. In those moments, you don’t ask yourself what something might be good for. It already feels good. But what about the things that happen differently than you planned or hoped?
What if next time, instead of immediately judging the situation, you simply accept this moment for what it is? A simple smile might be a good place to start. Just smile and tell yourself: “I’m curious what this will be good for.”
What would that thought alone do to your mood? Because let’s be real: Why wait for the next moment that gives us a reason to smile? Why not smile during the “bad” moments, too, when so often, looking back, things turned out in ways we couldn’t have planned any better?
And if you’re going to laugh about it someday anyway, why not start right now? It might save you a whole lot of bad moods. And, more importantly, something far more valuable: Life-Time.
With that thought in my luggage, I wish you a fantastic week and send you warm greetings from Reykjavík.
And if something doesn’t go according to plan today, just remind yourself: I’m curious what this will be good for.
