The proverbial ‘make lemonade with the lemons that Life hands you’ has most people braced for adversity; that is a good thing. Right? I say RIGHT.

My question today is:  What if life hands you oranges, or apples, or something surprisingly pleasant?

Do you waste such LUCK  because, well, who knew that the proverbial manna from heaven would ever find you? Or Do you grab the opportunities and make them count?

As with the Life’s lemons, we should also have a plan B, C, … Y, Z, etc. for positive unseen opportunities that strike us.

Let me explain:

On the 28th of October 2016, I was to travel from Königswinter to Darmstadt. Now, in a new country where the transport system is super-automated, I had to be at the train station at the right time lest I missed my train. I couldn’t exactly go to the railway station and hop on just any train as I am used to hopping on matatus (Public Service Vehicles in Kenya); I missed the randomness of matatus.

The automated train system also meant that I had to book my tickets prior to the trip; thanks to a colleague at the akademie fur konflikttransfurmation, who expedited the process for me; I gave him the required Euros in cash and he booked my to-and-from tickets super-fast. Within minutes, I had my ticket printed. Thank God digital time looks the same in both English and German.

Here comes the tricky bit: Between Königswinter and Darmstadt, I had to connect trains at Koblenz. In the days preceding my departure to Darmstadt, I checked and re-checked my ticket to see on which platforms I would alight and board the different trains. Well, you have no idea how many times I looked at my tickets and asked again and again which trains I could afford to miss because the short distance trains would go every 30 minutes.

Long story short, I would alight at platform 104 and board the ICE (long distance, speed train) on platform 4; or was it vice versa? I don’t really remember and I totally blame the winter cold that morning.

See, as a normal human being if you see 4 and 104, you would automatically assume a difference of 100; that would imply a significant distance between the two platforms. Between the times that I would alight from the short distance train to board the long distance ICE train, I would have only 6 minutes or so; I had to come up with a plan that would ensure I had sufficient time to alight from train and board the other.

PREPAREDNESS GALORE

I am the type that leaves nothing to chance and doesn’t take unnecessary risks; missing my train was not an option. Mind you I wasn’t home but was residing in a hotel that I had checked out of on the morning I was to travel; I couldn’t exactly go back home as the narrative goes. Maybe I could go back to the hotel, if I missed the train, and hope that all the rooms were not booked. I had notified my hotel management that I was going to be away for the whole weekend so it would have been possible that the management had booked other guests for the duration.

After convincing myself that I could not afford to miss the ICE long distance train, because six minutes did not seem sufficient for the platform to platform transfer (what if the short distance train for whatever reason got a 3 minutes delay?), I decided to depart one hour before my scheduled boarding time. An hour early meant I would have one hour and six minutes to transfer from one platform to the next. We got to Koblenz (the train-transfer station) and lo and behold, Platform 4 was also Platform 104 with only a distance of less than 5 steps literally.

What to do with extra time/ opportunities or when things do not go as planned

You can imagine my shock mixed with pleasure; I was too early (1 hour and 5 minutes – let’s say I used the sixth minute to strut briskly out of the first train) but at least I had all the time to relax and wait for the ICE – long distance train.

I had my music and earphones so I sat down – thank heavens for the seats – and started dreaming of my Darmstadt visit, seeing my long-time friend, going to Frankfurt and so on. My thought system trailed off less than 7 minutes after sitting; the cold was biting through my thick clothing onto my skin and into my bones; I should have worn one of those thermal pants- but how was I to know I would be in transit waiting out in the cold? I got up and started walking around; I went up and down the stairs and set foot on all the other platforms on either sides of the rails; interesting thing; I did not see anyone jumping over the tracks; everyone went in and out of the tunnels and used the stairs/ elevators to the other side. Would you blame me if I wanted to jump over the tracks? I mean, the other platforms were just opposite where I was…

Massive Experience Gained

By the end of the one hour, I could have sworn that if I had the right uniform, people would have thought I worked with the railway system there. On the return trip, three days later, I was the most comfortable passenger on both trains; knowing exactly where and when I will alight. I did the same, walking and exploring, JKIA, Istanbul, and Bonn/ Cologne Airports on my both my trips; always early and finding something to do during the flight connection time.

Here is the  thing

Ever heard of Colonel Sanders, the KFC founder? How about Larry Madowo? Walter Akolo, perhaps? You must have definitely heard about Tina Turner or Oprah Winfrey. Here is what they all did in common; they seized the opportunities that presented or attempted to present themselves and they (these people) run with the opportunities. They did not let their current lifestyles hold them back. They proactively overcame inertia.

Inertia, that Physics Law that explains the tendency/ resistance force of an object to remain in its state of motion (moving or static), applies to our lives as well. We tend to get used to a certain statusquo and any positive or negative force/ occurrence that is outside of our accustomed lifestyle can be mildly or seriously unsettling.  This is why planned change is always unnerving, and forced change throws us off balance. How many people do you know who sank when faced with great adversity or great success/ win?

LIFE LESSONS

In life, even with meticulous preparation and planning, things may not always turn out exactly as you had envisioned; prepare and plan anyway.

Whether things turn out for the best or for the worst, work the situation as best as you can and make it count at present or in the future.

There is no perfect script on how exactly things turn out in life; do not beat yourself up too much when there is a slight or mega diversion to your preconceived goals.

Take Away

• If the risk of being unprepared/ sufficiently prepared is too big, just over-prepare
• If things do not go as planned or you find time on your hands, make the best of it
• Take notes of things around you that might come in handy in the future