After reading Gabby Bernstein’s book “The Universe Has Your Back” I’ve tried to reframe how I look at things. I used to get angry with the universe because it wasn’t giving me what I wanted. I quickly learned it doesn’t work that way. I started accepting what was offered and work with it.

A story of how I reframed a stressful situation:

I had some car trouble when I was three hours from home. A track meet with my daughter turned into five days away from home. The situation wasn’t all that bad, but in the moment it was very tough.

My fan belt went on my car. But I was able to pull into a Tim Hortons parking loy safely. Within minutes two people had stopped to help me. After I got my car parked, I was picked up by another track dad to join their family for dinner. They were able to drive us to the meet the following day and helped ease my nerves.

The following day I called Nissan roadside assistance and they took care of the rest.

My stay was extended an extra two days. At the time I had a hard time enjoying my time. But I made the best of it and had a great mini vacay with my daughter.

What I learned from this situation was:

• Even in hard times people will be there to support me
• Uncertainty is part of life, tolerating the uncomfortable feeling is necessary to survive
• Things will work out, even if you don’t feel that way in the moment
• Go with the flow, stop trying to fight the process

Clearly I was in need of some rest and relaxation and I got just that. I could have stressed out the whole time (I only stressed out some of the time), but I chose happiness. I chose to go swimming, shopping, to dinner, to the river and to watch Netflix with my daughter instead.

In life step back and look at what the situation really is. Don’t fight it, go with the flow and enjoy the ride.