Only A Problem Responded To Badly Becomes A Bad Problem

After we got married, we rented a houseboat at Lake Powell, took a bunch of friends and went camping up the lake for a few nights.

We found a nice beach, anchored the houseboat and celebrated our commitment to each other. The water was clear, warm and a joy to play in. At night the whole sky was full of shining stars - a beautiful view I still long for and can't get since we moved to the city.

One evening I could see the thunderstorms gathering far away. You'd never know if they'd be hitting the lake or not. During that same night I woke up to strong winds hitting the boat and to the loud sound of heavy rain.

I looked out the window and I could see the tall rocks. My husband woke up, too, and he did the same thing: looked out the window and saw the rocks. But he responded differently.

He yelled "The wind must have made the boat unanchored and is pushing us against the rocks. We need to start the engine now otherwise we will hit the rocks." And he jumped out of bed and ran upstairs.

I had no idea what he really said because I was half asleep but when he ran out, I realized something must be wrong. You know that feeling, like when an antelope notices danger, gets scared and starts running. Then the other antelopes notice the running one and now they are running, too, not really knowing what the danger is or where it's coming from.

That was me!

I put on some clothes and ran to wake the others. In less than 5 minutes everyone was upstairs, gathered and scared.

My husband started the engine.

But we were not moving.

I was puzzled.

Then I looked up and out towards the rocks.

We were still anchored to the beach just facing the wrong way. The wind has turned the boat around and we were facing towards the rocks. That's what my husband and I saw.

We locked eyes and let out a sigh.

Everything was fine.

We weren't about to crash and die ??.

We told everyone what we'd thought was happening and declared we were all safe now, and let everyone go back to sleep. Tomorrow morning we'd fix the situation.

Only a problem responded to badly becomes a bad problem.

Here's how to start:

• learn about the two different ways we behave in a threatening situation (reacting and responding).
• learn about what the difference is between those two.
• find out what you are reacting to in your current life without even thinking about it (automatically & as in a default mode).
• notice when and what causes you to pause and choose a different response other than your default reaction.
• notice how would, if anything, change in your life if you would react less "badly" and respond more intentionally to problems. Would you have less problems and more situations that needed solutions?

Only a problem responded to badly becomes a bad problem.

Choose to live life differently.

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