DAY 11: You Can't Control Everything.

Author: Me /

I pride myself on my planning abilities. At work... At home... When I travel... When it comes to my hobbies and personal time... I am pretty thorough with my planning.


Yet, even with all my planning skills, I know that sometimes things aren't going to go the way you prepared for them to. Which is why you still have to be adaptable for when the unexpected happens. Like yesterday...

I decided that since it was Sunday, I would go to the late afternoon class. I spent the morning doing some household chores. I went grocery shopping. I spent some time visiting with my sister-in-law who was visiting from Australia. And at about 3pm, I packed my bag and got ready to walk to the Bikram studio in my neighborhood.

On my way to the studio, I decided to stop off at various stores and pick up some things I still needed to get. But as I was walking around, I noticed that power was out on many street lights. Cars were stopping at intersections and treating them as "Four-Way Stops" because the traffic lights weren't working. Many stores had notices in them that read, "Closed Due to Blackout."

"What blackout?" I wondered. I lived in the same neighborhood, and my power at home was totally fine.

As I wandered my neighborhood, I found it odd... Some stores had power, others didn't. It was very random. And confusing. As I got closer to the Bikram studio, I saw that at least two nearby coffee shops had power, and I took that as a sign.

"The Bikram studio will be fine," I told myself.

But as I walked up to the glass doors that led to the basement studio, I saw one of the owners sitting at the top of the stairs, strumming his guitar. He looked up at me and smiled.

"NOOOOO!" I screamed. I walked to the door and looked from him down into the darkness of the descending stairwell. "DAMMIT!"

He laughed. He said the power had gone out just after 11am. He still taught the noon class, but it was cold. And as the class went on, the emergency lights in the room began to dim and he couldn't see any of the students. He continued to stay at the studio in the event that the power would come back on for the 4pm (and final) class of the day. But it did not.

While I was standing there talking to him, more students showed up for class. The studio is doing a 30-day challenge right now. So a handful of us now get to play catch-up later this week with a "Double Class."

Sometimes, even with your well-planned intentions, there are circumstances beyond your control which make it necessary to do a double class. I think I will be doing mine next Saturday. Probably going to the morning and the late afternoon classes.

Doubles aren't my favorite thing in the world, but this is where I get to exercise the patience and the adaptability my yoga practice has helped me develop. Sometimes you are shit-out-of-luck in life, and you just have to find a way to deal.

5 comments:

bikramyogachick said...

Oh boy, how frustrating! Hopefully the double goes well next weekend. :)

Duffy Pratt said...

It's for exactly this reason that I recommend people do doubles up front during challenges, before they fall behind. It's so much easier to have a little cushion where you can miss a class and shrug it off, than it is to fall a few classes behind and wonder how you are going to do all those doubles to catch up.

Jenn said...

Ug! I once did a challenge and hit traffic and got to a locked door about 2 minutes late. I was upset!!! But indeed, I did a double at some point soon after and the world did not end. It's a drag though, and indeed, it let's us "practice" our reaction to this kind of thing in life which is, undoubtedly, unavoidable. Good for you for letting it go and just doing what you have to do! :)

Big G said...

It's a lot more fun to do doubles when you want to instead of when you have to!

Me said...

Duffy... that is a good idea.

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