is understanding your detours
Many years ago as I was going to take a trip and visit my parents in Växjö, Sweden (I was born and raised in Sweden and moved to the US in 1987), I was forced to change my travel plans. In other words I hade to take a detour.
I was flying out of Houston, via Chicago and then to Copenhagen, Denmark. In Copenhagen I had to get on another plane that would take me to my final destination which was Växjö, Sweden.
I had flown this route many times and I was excited to get on the plane and go home and visit my friends and my family in Sweden.
But as I was checking in at the airport in Houston they told me that were no airplanes going to or leaving Chicago that day, due to severe weather. Of course I was disappointed because I was ready to go. "What should I do now?" I asked the lady at the ticket counter. She told me that I could go home and try again tomorrow. But they didn't know if the weather was going to be any better tomorrow.
Or I could come back in about ten hours and then I could fly with a different airline and I would have to connect flights in London, England instead of Chicago. And after, I would fly from London to Copenhagen. But of course I would be delayed over ten hours or maybe even more if I encountered any other problems on the way.
Or I could just decide not to go at all, and forget about the whole trip.
I told the lady to book me on the flight through London instead. I went home and ten hours later I was back at the airport ready to go again. And this time the plane left on time and I was on way to Europe. When I arrived at Gatwick airport in London, they informed that I had just missed my connecting flight to Copenhagen. But they told that they could get me on a bus that would take me to Heathrow airport and that there will be a flight available there that would connect me to get to Copenhagen.
Another detour.....should I stop now and go home? Of course not. I got on the bus and a little over an hour later, I was at Heathrow airport. I got on my plane to Copenhagen and then the final flight into my hometown in Sweden. I made it to Växjö and I had a wonderful visit in Sweden.
Would you have stopped at the ticket counter in Houston when they told you that your flight had been cancelled due to bad weather? Of course not.
Would you have stopped at the Gatwick airport in England when they told you that you had missed your flight? Of course not. You would just simply find another route that would have taken you to your final destination.
So why do most people stop pursuing their goal when they run into an obstacle, setback or detour? Why don't most people apply the same principle as in the example below? Instead most people give up when they encounter a temporary setback. Or they quit when they have to find a different path to get onto because the other path is not available any longer. They give up and tell themselves that is wasn't meant to be. These people often feel like a failure and they bury their dream way back in the mind so they don't have to think about it anymore.
A goal is the final destination to where you want to go. You have a great plan on how to get there. You start your trip towards the goal and bad weather hits in the form of an obstacle or setback. Should you go back to where you started? No, you simply take a step back. Look at the situation and figure out a different route that you can take that will take you to your final destination
"Lessons often come dressed up as
detours and roadblocks."
- Oprah Winfrey
A detour simply means another route. It should never mean surrendering your goal.
I can't tell all the times that I had to change my route when I was flying either from the US to Sweden, or back home to the US. Not one time did I quit or return home. I simply found a new route and I always made it to Sweden and back home to the US.
When you come to a roadblock.....take a detour!
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