How to deal with unexpected challenges

Well, I wasn't expecting that!

This weekend, me and the lovely Mr Bob have been in Edinburgh and although we had a fantastic time whilst there, we had a few unexpected challenges in terms of the journey.  Unlike most long journeys, we were actually really excited as we had first class tickets all the way so this was going to be a special treat.

We drove down to Meadowhall to catch the train, which is just 20 minutes from home. However, when we arrived at the station there were no parking spaces.  No great shakes, Plan B, we’ll go in the Park & Ride.  Erm, no spaces in there either and our train leaves in 5 minutes.  Okay then, Plan C, we’ll drive into Sheffield and jump on the next train.  Ten minutes later we were parking at Sheffield station. Yay, back on track.  We had about 40 minutes to wait for the train to Manchester Piccadilly so we headed for the first class lounge.  Great, we were warm, we had coffee and we had biscuits. The train arrived on time and we were on our way. Ooh, I’ll just check what time we arrive and how long until our train to Edinburgh.  What the @#%!  Train CANCELLED!!  Right, breathe, Plan D, when is the next train after that?  Say what?  There’s a problem with the line and the next one has also been cancelled!  It’s fine, Plan E, what other route can we take?  So we headed back across the Pennines to Huddersfield where we had 5 minutes to catch our next train to York.  Thankfully the train from Manchester was on time and it was literally a step across to the next platform for the York train. 

As I jot down some notes for this blog, I’m having a little chuckle because we left home at 9.30 am, the train we are now on is just pulling into Leeds station, 20 freaking miles from home and it’s 1.20 pm!  Nearly 4 hours to end up only 20 miles from home.  On the plus side, we were really making the most of our first class tickets!!  Jeez we’ll have been all round the country at this rate and we might still end up back home. 

Well, we made it to York but the drama continued.  We got on the train only to find it absolutely heaving in first class so we couldn’t sit together and then more bad news when we reached Darlington and had to give up our seats due to other reservations @#%!  Anyway, despite everything we eventually reached Edinburgh in a record time of 7 hours.  We could have been halfway across the world in that time. 

We also had issues on the way back home but quite frankly this blog would go on forever and I'd bore you out of your tiny minds so I'll save that one for another day.

So my dear friends, how do you cope with unexpected challenges such as this?  Well first of all, you need to keep calm because getting annoyed and upset serves no purpose whatsoever.  You have to think on your feet and make up a contingency plan from fresh air.  You need to be able to think outside the box and come up with a number of alternatives.  Being able to quickly navigate the t’interweb thingy also comes in handy to research your options.  Being a PA, this was just another standard day!  

In all seriousness though, how do you cope with the unexpected? 

First of all, what’s your personality type?

Are you someone who takes everything in their stride with a shrug of the shoulders and a ‘that’s life’ attitude and then gets on with the task in hand?  If so, then you’re going to handle these occasions very well.  You might be disappointed, upset or angry for a few minutes but then you give yourself a shake and solve the issue. 

On the other hand, are you someone who reacts quite badly to the unexpected and don’t know where to start?  Then you're the kind of person who needs a contingency plan for practically every time you step out the door so you’re well prepared. 

We all react differently to life’s challenges and it’s just a simple case of knowing your own personality to get through them. 

Have a contingency plan

Think about what you would need if things didn’t quite go to plan.  For example, is your car breakdown cover up to date, will you need spare clothing, have you checked alternative transport, have you got snacks / water, do you know where you’re going.  It might sound really negative to go through the worst case scenarios but it could be a whole lot worse if you don’t.  Besides, 99% of the time you won’t have to put your contingency plan into action but you can be safe in the knowledge that you do actually have one on that very rare occasion. 

Keep calm and carry on

It's a bit old hat now but this saying is still true nevertheless.  Losing your cool will help no-one and certainly not yourself.  Always be polite no matter what and whatever happens and no matter how rude someone might be, resist the temptation to grab them by the short and curlies and say "do you know what a &*%$ing day I'm having".  Smile through gritted teeth and politely say "thank you for your assistance".  I'm saying all this because past experience has shown that so called 'officials' are not always that helpful.  Not on this occasion in our case I have to say though, the people we encountered were all extremely helpful.

So there you go, a few things for you to think about and even if you are the kind of person who's rarely fazed by anything, it still pays to PREPARE, PREPARE, PREPARE.

By the way, welcome to 'Daring December' and the final month of 2019!!

#DaringDecember