Attitude

If you’re a regular reader of my articles you’ll recall that my husband and I recently ventured up to Taree (6 hours drive north) to pick up our new little Rottweiler puppy, Tali. Well, I made mention of the holiday traffic on the way up the coast, but I really breezed over it. I’d like to revisit the trauma and let you know how we turned it into a fantastic experience, a fun night and a very rewarding trip. Hopefully by the end you will view your next traffic challenge a little differently!

Before we left, Sean (my husband) said, “You do know there’s going to be plenty of traffic don’t you.” My reply was, “It won’t be so bad, besides she’s worth it.” Oh, if only I knew!!!

We started off on our journey and at the bottom of Mt Ousley there had been a minor bingle. The traffic heading south (thankfully we were heading north) was banked up pretty much to Bulli Pass. As that point I said to Sean, “Perhaps were making a mistake, we could just have her transported down?” But Sean was now fairly adamant that we were on our way. Then we came through Sydney and before we got to the Pacific Highway heading to the North Coast it was bumper to bumper. You know when people talk about traffic crawling … this was worse. Again, I said, “Perhaps we should turn around?” There were massive flashing billboards saying “Extensive delays on the Pacific Highway.” But on we went.

As much as I love my wonderful husband, managing traffic is not really one of his fortes, so I did my utmost. We started by talking about how we were going to spend the $30 million we were going to win on next week’s Lotto, and that lasted quite a while. We came up with building our dream home on the beach, what it would look like, and more specifically how much garage space would it have! It was easy to chat and forget about the traffic when we took our minds to the challenge of spending multitudes of money and looking into our future together.

Once that conversation wore out Sean got to listening to some music and I got to reading. Whenever we drive any distance (which is generally down to the snow) I always read. Actually, it’s closer to devouring books. I just love reading while Sean’s next to me driving. Partly because we’re together and partly because I know I’m using my time really well to absorb new information. So on the way up I read three new books - two self-help books and one beautiful book on Mother Teresa. Each time I found an interesting fact I’d read it to Sean and that would start another conversation.

On we went until we got just past Newcastle and hit another MAJOR traffic jam. This time it was only about 15 minutes before we both decided it would be much better to pull off and stay overnight somewhere close and continue driving in the morning.  We were lucky to find a beautiful little spot, called North Arm Cove, it was just delightful. As we had planned on camping, we were well prepared to stop anywhere. We found a gorgeous spot right on the water and settled in for the night. We cooked and ate right at the water’s edge and in the morning woke up to the sunrise peeking over the trees. It was just stunning. Then of course we continued our drive to pick up our new little Rottweiler puppy, Tali. What an awesome trip!

Later I got to thinking about how ‘interesting’ our trip had been and I could only put it down to one thing - Attitude! Sean and I had decided we were going to have a good trip; we focused on the fun bits and made the whole thing a massive success! With a different attitude, the same trip could have been a bitter nightmare. With a bright and fun loving attitude, we had a fantastic time!

So next time a bad situation comes your way, think about your attitude. Chances are that the situation isn’t going to change a lot, but you are completely in control of your attitude!

If you’re really ready to make a major shift in your life and improve your attitude, check out the workshops we have on offer at http://www.advancedcoachingsolutions.com.au/Workshops.html

The first workshop is on ‘Loving the Authentic You’. This workshop focuses on building your Self-esteem and Self-confidence. Identify what needs to change in your life so that you feel good about yourself consistently and take action towards creating the YOU that you’ve always wanted to become. In just two hours you’ll walk out with a whole new feeling of who you are and what your life represents.