An Attitude of Adaptability?
It is spring in Durango. Technically it is the second day of spring. And it is snowing—a lot. The snow dump started yesterday with more forecasted through the end of the week. The weather outlook shows snowfall in feet, not inches. Ugh.
As I battle a cold (and what is likely the tail end of RSV) and walk my dog in the cold snowy elements, I want to complain. I want my dog's walk to be done and for winter to be done. I want today to be a top-ten sunny day. I want to post a photo of how glorious it is to live in this green nature oasis of Durango, Colorado instead of more of this white stuff.
Lessons from my recent hiking trip to Patagonia have taught me to want and think otherwise.
What I learned from our hiking guides and from the people of Patagonia was that an attitude of adaptability rather than one of being expectant reaped much higher joy in the daily pleasures of life. As humans (especially those with privilege) our knee-jerk reaction is to have expectations of our future days; from the weather to the experience. We like how things look through an online lens full of filters and staged smiles. We look forward to our experiences mirroring these narratives.
And then something goes array and doesn't fit that perfect vision we were expecting. Planning our Patagonia hiking trip, we had visions of taking in beautiful scenery throughout the day with glorious photo ops on mountaintops. What we got instead was a lot of cloud cover and even more rain. The tents were small and the conditions harsh. What we did get were things we didn't expect: Watching a large avalanche bellow into a valley. Ascending a mountain that was later closed due to harsh conditions. The feeling of success in our accomplishment had a much greater feeling of joy than the expected beautiful photos in clear visibility.
What we expected was not what we received. But what we got, in the end, was the most epic adventure shared with great friends.
Looking back at your peak moments in life, are they when the expectant came to perfect fruition or did they come from the joys in the unexpected?
Having an attitude of adaptability rather than one of expectancy won't always result in euphoric moments, but it will have a positive impact on your ongoing daily happiness. You can not control all the circumstances that affect your life, but you can control how you react to them. By adapting to the unexpected in a positive way, you have just opened yourself up to greater possibilities of joy and fulfillment.
As I was reframing my mindset from 'poor me, pity me' today while on my dog walk, I found that moving to an attitude of adaptability wasn't hard. I started with being thankful for simply being given another day. Sucking on my cough drop I started looking around me at the winter wonderland from a perspective of pure beauty.
And then I noticed my dog, Zeke, gleefully sticking his face in the snow drift. For him, THIS is a top-ten day. There is no better day than a snow day from his furry perspective. And isn't perspective what it really is all about?
Happy second day of spring, everyone! Regardless of the circumstances of your day, I wish you great joy as you adapt. As for me and Zeke, we will just keep happily walking through our winter wonderland. Then we will be extra appreciative of the greenness of spring when it finally does arrive.
