It’s one of those days….

I’m having one of those days…you know the ones…where everything goes wrong.

I haven’t had one in a while. Not that my life is perfect…of course i have bad days and good days, but I normally don’t let them get to me.

We are on a short-family trip to Mekka and Medina. The day started with a very crowded dawn prayer at the holy mosque. It’s Friday, and it was clear to us that we would not be able to make it to Friday prayer, especially that we leave to Medina today by car. We decided to leave before prayer. As I rushed to pack I realized I lost my brand new iPad Pro at Kuwait airport. I am sure I had left it at the security check-in, as that was the last time I had seen it. I called our company driver, Abdullah, and asked him to go the airport and check lost and found. I hurriedly made some coffee, and both burned my fingers and electrocuted myself. We were packed and ready before the roads were closed due to the prayer, with a long 4 hour journey ahead of us. We get into the taxi, I turn to buckle up and the seat belts in the back don’t work! My kids and I wear a seatbelt no matter what. And now on a 4 hour drive, 90% of which on a highway, without a seatbelt!!!! Panic is an understatement.

We got into the taxi, and he informs us that because of the change in our departure schedule, he was unable to put gas into his car. But all gas stations are closed until after the Friday prayer ends…another 2 hours! We head out of Mekka at 11:20am and stop at a station at 12pm. But there’s nothing until past 1pm. So we wait, we pray at the small mosque and wait some more. Finally the gas station employees arrive at 1:25pm. There’s a fight happening in front of me as I write this at the gas station. Oh no, my husband just got involved. Turns out the employees were dragged out of their break room by one of the commuters. They were meant to start their duty at 1pm.

On our way now, another 3 1/2 hours to go. I called our company driver, and no sign of my iPad.

Honestly I feel good. Maybe not great. I hate long car trips. But if I had the same day a few years back, I would be in the worst mood. So what’s changed? Other than being older and hopefully wiser, my mindset has. But it didn’t happen overnight. Here’s the learning process i went through…

Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff! Everyone should read this book. As far as I remember it was the fist book that had a strong effect on helping me let go of the small stuff. The most important message in the book is that when big stuff happens, we tend to find the strength to get through it. But it’s the small things that we waste so much energy on.
The Law of Attraction – the principle that like attracts like. If I let a day like today get to me it will ultimately get worse. Bad stuff will attract more bad stuff if I let it.
Gratitude – Surat AlFatihah is referred to as the Mother of the Quran due to it’s greatness. It is also called Surat AlHamd or The Gratitude Chapter. We recite it during each if our daily prayers, 17 times a day at least. The verse “All the praises and thanks be to Allah” is the second in the Quran after “In the Name of Allah”, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful”. God emphasized it for it’s power to better one’s life. Being grateful helps us look on the bright side when life gets tough, and reminds us to focus on what’s good instead of what’s going wrong.
The Hindsight Window – In Surat AlBaqarh verse 216, God says: “But perhaps you hate a thing and it is good for you, And perhaps you love a thing and it is bad for you. Allah knows, while ye know not.” You know after weeks, months and years of going through a bad experience you realize it was for the best. It’s either you learned something that improved your life, or it changed your circumstances in a way that resulted in more good than you thought, or benefited you in some other way. Now imagine if you shorten this time frame, also referred to as the Hindsight Window by Eric Edmeades, wouldn’t your life be a whole lot easier? Believing that God wants what’s best for you, whether you come to that realization in the future or not also helps get you through tough times.

So here’s how I applied the 4 above tips to my day.

I didn’t get upset, I didn’t complain, and I almost didn’t loose my temper for no reason.

I wasn’t about to get upset and attract more bad stuff to my day. Instead my thoughts are focused on being with my family and looking forward to arriving in Medina and seeing it for the firs time.
Instead of thinking how we could have avoided today’s mishaps with a list of “if only-s” and “What ifs”…I’m focused on that we are so blessed to be on this trip in the first place.
So what did I gain from this? Writing this blog post ?