Compassion Fatigue Solutions

I have been travelling backwards on a train for the past hour. We were about an hour away from Toronto when something went wrong with the train in front of us. I don’t know the details (as none have been communicated to us) but it means that we have had to travel backwards and now have to wait to connect with the broken train and tow them all the way to Toronto. This, we were told, is going to take “a very long time”. Since then, we have gone backwards, forward, backwards again for long stretches of time.

This means that I have missed my connecting train and that every minute that goes by, I am travelling further and further away from my destination.

Now this is a good time to be mindful! One of my best friends has told me that I am “the queen of the positive reframe” and she wasn’t feeling warm and fuzzy when she said it, as she felt very irritated by a contretemps we were experiencing and I was telling her "look on the bright side, at least we don't have to climb THAT hill over there!."

So, here is the positive reframe, (Just for you, Mary, ☺). Five good things about this mishap:

1) No one is waiting for me at the station if and when I arrive so I'm not putting anyone else out.
2) One of my dearest friends gave me a cd for my birthday with 89 songs on it, many from our days as punk rockers in Montreal. So I’m having a very enjoyable walk down memory lane. (Thank you Jimmy!)
3) I could be on the other train, the broken one, where there has been no heat and no washrooms for the past hour and a half...
4) I could have two toddlers with me
5) It might turn out that I am sitting on my connecting train as this train changes identity once it gets to Toronto. Which will mean I have not missed my connection at all.

Plus, what the heck can I do and what is the point of making it a miserable time for myself?

So there you go, that’s my positive reframe. Talk to me again in a couple of hours and see if I’m still feeling perky.