by Carly Mayer, M.S.
This past weekend, I was looking forward to a short vacation with some friends on Fire Island. We had rented a house and planned this one weekend away last winter and I was very excited to get away. Then I saw the weather forecast. The weather report predicted rain and thunderstorms for the entire weekend. I questioned if it was even worth going and being stuck inside all weekend, but I decided to go regardless.
On Friday morning, four friends and I ran onto the ferry in the pouring rain. I felt myself already getting angry that our weekend would be ruined from the start. As we got off the ferry, we saw countless massive puddles and were all in shock. As we murmured to each other in disbelief, a few people passing by mentioned that it only gets worse. As we walked to the house, carrying two pieces of luggage each and almost swimming through three to four inch puddles, I felt anger. I thought, “It should be nice out for the one weekend we planned. It’s been nice every other weekend this summer.” However, then I remembered all I had learned in my training at AEI. I decided that instead, I would challenge that belief and think, “I would prefer it to be nice out this weekend, but it does not have to be.” I repeated this a few times in my head and even though I was soaked and my arm hurt from carrying my bag, I realized that this was not so bad at all. I could be annoyed rather than angry and still hope that the weather would improve.
After 30 minutes of walking in the pouring rain, soaked and unable to find our house, we finally arrived. I went inside, unpacked all of my wet clothing, and repeated my new belief. For a few hours we stayed inside, enjoyed each other’s company, and laughed at the circumstances. Then, when it did not seem possible, the sun came out and it turned into a perfect beach day. Suddenly, what had been a preference became a reality.
