beachYou know when you are. It’s the morning your alarm clock doesn’t go off, or it did but you hit the snooze button and really it was the off button. Then you realize you’ve missed your work out which is a bummer and now you barely have time to grab something to eat and coffee before you dash out the door. Only, now your kid missed the bus so he needs a ride, and the dog happened to get out to chase a squirrel and is now attacking the pet ducks down the street. Shoot! You still have to get dressed and you are now missing the recyclable pick up and it’s piled high and .. whew! It’s not even 7:30am!

You get the point! Sometimes life just happens. We get knocked off our target and our peaceful existence is out the window, like a piece of gum you throw away while driving 90 mph down the high way! Whoosh! It’s GONE.

What to do!?

Do we want stress to rule the day? Do we want to step into that meeting all bent out of shape or off our game? Do we want to start our day yelling at the kids, chasing our dog and begging for the garbage man to wait for you? And who in the heck is going to iron for you to make you look good!?

We’ve all had these days. Of course in an ideal world, and in a perfect blog post, I’d be telling you to plan the night before, silly, (that’s you! J )that that makes all the difference in your life and if you want to have a peaceful life, you have to plan ahead! Certainly that’s the typical scenario and the more pleasant situation.

Back to reality!

On those crazy days, where everything is going wrong, and people are the sand paper in our lives, I’ve learned to surrender. Let the mistakes happen. Let the chaos reign, and switch into “I’m riding the tidal wave mode and it’ll end sometime”!

This past weekend my son and I celebrated Mothers Day at the beach. It was one of those rocking, stellar days where the sun was bright, the clouds scarce, and the temperature perfect. The water was amazing and everyone and their brother were there.

Try rushing a 15 year old boy who would rather be on his computer all day than spend a day at the beach hanging with mom. So, he was not in a rush to get going. It wasn’t happening! So I went to get him at his dads and enjoyed about a half an hour wait when he was supposed to be ready. By the time we got to the beach, it was another 30 minutes to find parking because it was so packed. We got the beach and only had a couple of hours to enjoy rather than a full day, our typical M.O.

Frustration or fun? I could have been screaming and yelling at him to hurry, or yelling about the parking situation! The heat was bearing down which always makes a strong man weaker, but not today! No way! It was MOTHERS Day and I was with my son! Nothing was going to get me off task, and we went and played in the waves and had the absolute BEST time! I totally ROCKED TWO waves that made me feel like a surfer on a HAWAIIAN beach!  They rough you up and they toss you around, but if you hold on for dear life you can ride the wave and it’s a blast! YAHOO!

Attitude prevailed.

And I knew that once we got past the frustrating stuff.. that we could have a special time. And we did. I focused on my son, and HIM having fun. And it worked!

Recently, I was in a business meeting where one of the parties was just an absolute nightmare. He apparently hated small talk and let everyone know it was a waste of time. His agitation completely knocked someone else off their game during the call, and they back peddled, they got aggressive back, and it ruined the call. I quickly put on the diplomat hat and tried to smooth the ruffled feathers, but later recounted the situation and realized that this person isn’t a good fit for this business transaction. He’s a person who RUFFLES feathers, so I took a breather and walked away for now. Perhaps later, he’ll be a bit more kind. I noticed it and kept moving.

I was just on a call with an insurance company and they had a silly requirement of asking about 100 times if it was a debit or a Mastercard. I have to admit, it was frustrating to have to answer the question over and over. So, I made a game of it and throughout the rest of the call I kept saying the word DEBIT in between words. We got a laugh over it, and then I explained her company needs to know that they’re NOT WOWING the customer and it’s the LITTLE things like this that tick people off, and they need to revisit their policies. Why would they put a silly statement in there that is VERY FRUSTRATING to the customer? Because they don’t care that they’re the ones knocking people off their game and frustrating people! They have their policy! BAD POLICY!

So people can cause others to be frazzled, our lives can cause us to be stressed, and companies do things that annoy us so we get annoyed!

Companies and people should continually ask themselves, do I cause others to be frazzled? If I do, how can I change so my interaction is better for all involved?

The anecdote to all of this stress is to LOVE! Yep! I’m serious! If you adapt the mindset of loving the people you do business with and who are in your life, then you’re going to do a WHOLE lot better! But business isn’t about LOVE you say!? Really?? Then you better get OUT of your business because if you don’t LOVE it, YOU’RE probably the one causing the stress!  When the person isn’t lovable, then decide if it’s worth it to win him over. With a lovable attitude, you might gain a long time client and friend!

Getting frazzled is OUT. Loving is IN. Love your families, your friends and your customers. It’s WAY more fun, and its way more memorable! Racing through life being stressed is no life at all.

So chill out this week, focus on love, and ride the wave!

You’ll be glad you did. And so will “THEY”!

Surf’s up!