How to turn Problems and Challenges into Adventures
Today, at our holiday place, we’ve moved from our tent into a bungalow… as we are in the middle of a weather alert level „orange“ – which means heavy winds and rain for the next 24 hours.
I would say, this is an adventure.
However, one could say:
„An adventure?! Vacations in this area of France are expected to be warm, sunny and surely milder than back in Switzerland at this time of the year. After all, I didn’t take on myself all this time-consuming packing and driving 800km south to get this kind of weather! „
Well – somehow this is true. On the other hand, life is full of unexpected situations. And this not only in such a tent-vacation.
However, in my experience, such vacation
– There are multiple possibilities in a situation.
– That the process to work out a solution is part of the journey of life.
– That an unexpected situation is nothing to be scared of.
– That there are always other options.
– That there is no need to focus our attention on the „problem“ – it is of great benefit to look for the possibilities and solutions.
And I learned that my attitude toward such situations is crucial for the way my kids take it. If I keep a good mood, a relaxed attitude and look with my kids at the options we have, they learn that this situation is not a threat to our great vacation: It’s an adventure with multiple possible outcomes:
– We could stay in the tent and plan a cozy time with snacks, music, books and some towels to dry it off if the tent leaks.
– We could leave this campground and look for another one where there is no storm (in fact, this would have meant only a one hour drive up north, to meet perfect sunny and mild conditions).
– We could leave our tent like it is, cover up all the stuff that shouldn’t get wet and rent a bungalow.
– We could go back home and plan for a fun rest of our vacations, back home.
Here we had multiple solutions to our problem. A perfect situation to teach my kids that we live in a world of probabilities and that we can come up with multiple solutions; our life can be full of adventures, full of possibilities. We went for the solution of renting a cottage for these days of the storm, And covered up all the stuff that shouldn’t get wet.
There was not one moment we experienced this weather condition as a problem. No time or need to be in a bad mood or to have a negative feeling about that situation. In fact, to my surprise, the manager of the campground gave us this cottage for free, as long as we needed it! We were so grateful for this generous gesture! We loved the comfort of a house with a cozy bed, private toilets and showers.
We were happy to exchange the adventure „tent-vacation“ for a comfy bungalow. We felt comfortable, while experiencing the power of the rain and the wind, the kids loved to splash in the waters of the huge puddles that were created by the heavy rain and to drive through them with their bikes.
Caroline Leaf tells us in her book „Think, Learn, Succeed„:
„We cannot use our circumstances as an excuse to not succeed in life. It’s not news to you that we all have issues we have to deal with and challenges we have to face. There is always something we are working on. Being able to see possibilities in the minds of your difficulties is, however, a game changer…
I have
.
Back home, we have this same purpose in mind: To grow in that reality that „problems and challenges“ can be turned into an adventure. That we live in a world of probabilities and that we can come up with multiple solutions; our life can be full of adventures, full of possibilities.
