What do you do when you have a roadblock in your life or in your business?
This past week, I was driving to Boston for my Mastermind meeting. I was running a little behind schedule. I don’t like taking the George Washington Bridge and going through New York because of traffic. However, my traffic radio station said it was the quickest route.
As I was just passing the toll booth going onto the upper level of the bridge, I saw this rather large pothole and swerved to avoid it. Unfortunately, my tiredness nipped it, and then, “boom.” My tire blew out just as I was getting on the bridge-yikes. I tried not to panic. In fact, I was on my wireless headset speaking with a colleague when it happened. I quickly got off the phone, took control of the car, took lots of deep breaths, and severely slowed down and contemplated my options. What would you have done if you were in this situation?
Before I started doing some personal work on myself, like using Holosync (Centerpointe Institute) to meditate and reading Eckhart Tolle’s book, A New Earth, Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose, I’m sure I would have panicked and been pretty freaked out about the whole experience. (Did I mention how I really loathe the GW Bridge and driving through New York?)
Thank goodness I knew I had to keep driving and that I couldn’t stop on the bridge. If I did, I’m sure I would not be here writing to tell my tale. What was more important, my BMW 330xi or my life? Well, certainly, I chose my life.
I finally saw this emergency place and quickly pulled my car over. I cautiously got out to inspect the tire- yikes, as the trucks and cars whizzed by. I called AAA, and they were stupendous. They had someone out to get me within 20 minutes. I was a bit anxious because where I was pulled over was not the safest place. The AAA rep told me that I was safer in my car than outside of it, and she was right. Instead of thinking about all the atrocities that might come, I practiced my new skills of being in the moment, not worrying or panicking about the next one. I called my loved ones and dear colleagues to explain my mishap and tell them I was ok. The nicest thing was the AAA rep called me back and stayed on the phone with me until the truck got there. I
When the tow truck came, he said he couldn’t change my tire here. He said the last person who changed a tire here lost his legs. I was so incredibly thankful that he told me this story after my care and I were safely in his big tow truck. He was kind and very helpful. He dropped me at a tire center close to the highway. As I was shaking his hand and saying thank you, I asked his name. He said his name was “Angel.” I said that was wonderfully ironic because he certainly was my angel that day.
Then, at the tire center, the person who fixed my tire was named Gabriel. I knew for certain right then that this whole experience had happened for a reason. That’s when Gabriel told me not only was my tired flat but my rim was cracked. The bad news was that I wasn’t going to make it to my mastermind meeting in Boston, which I was really sad about. Yet, I knew there was a reason for this mishap. My sign was that I needed to slow down and use this extra time to take care of myself and use it wisely, so I turned around and went home.
Has anything like this ever happened to you in your business? Have you ever hit a roadblock that prevents you from where you want to go or simply takes you off course? How did you recover, or did you? Did you pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and do something differently? This is what I would want for you. Don’t ever give up. Surround yourself with a success team and/or a support system and rely on them to help you get through the difficult times. We all can persevere, we just need to keep moving, find a different path, look at things differently and don’t ever give up.