Here I am, enjoying the beautiful California sunshine.
In this photo I was still so freaking excited to have just arrived. I was waiting at the airport for my shuttle to the hotel I was supposed to be at – the one with all the pretty Impact Summit by Kajabi posters and registration tables and excited business owners.
As I stood by the counter checking into the hotel, I started to worry. The sweet woman at the desk couldn’t find my reservation. She looked it up by first and last name. She looked it up by my maiden name. She tried my confirmation number. After about 20 minutes of nervousness, I realized my mistake.
I BOOKED THE WRONG HOTEL.
Y’all, I about cried. My perfect business trip was quickly falling apart. My plans were quickly changing. The vision I had for myself to be able to run up to my room to work on my business during the hour and a half lunch and supper breaks…those visions were disappearing. I’d be spending those breaks crammed in the hotel lobby around all the other fools trying to compete for internet to pass the time between the event sessions.
Now what?
I scanned my LYFT and UBER apps to make sure I could find rides nearby. There were lots. At $10 a trip to my hotel, it wasn’t bad. I could manage it.
Then I called Expedia. They made it very clear that they don’t charge any cancelation fees, but that the hotels do. They offered to call the original hotel for me, to see if they could negotiate a cancelation. I waited on hold for 20 minutes to find out the manager wasn’t there and that they would have to call back in 15 minutes. So I hung up the phone and called my mommy.
At 33-years-old, I still call my mommy whenever I need to be lifted up. She has always had this amazing ability to boost my spirits when they are low. A 30-minute conversation with her was just what I needed to get my head-on straight.
“Everything will work itself out. Everything will be fine. This is just a bump in the road.”
Feeding my brain positivity was the next best thing I could do.
After 40-minutes of waiting and not hearing back from Expedia, I called again. I re-explained my situation to another representative, and she offered to call for me again. After another 15-minutes on hold, she returned to inform me that the hotel okayed a FULL REFUND!
If I hadn’t been in the hotel lobby surrounded by hundreds of people, I would have literally jumped 10-feet into the air to celebrate! (I may have broken a bone considering I wasn’t ever able to jump that high even in my younger years, but man I would’ve given it a try!)
A full refund meant I could book the hotel I needed to!
I called my mom back for her credit card info, because at 33-years-old, I still don’t have my life together! Without hesitation, she gave me the digits I needed to book the hotel I wanted to be in.
As I walked up to the front desk to confirm my new reservation, they confirmed my stay in a club-level room. What’s club level?! It’s where the rich people stay!!! Tenth floor, free drinks and snacks during happy hour in the exclusive club lounge and breakfast is included every morning.
My imperfect scenario had transformed into something bigger than I could’ve ever imagined.
Of course I was too exhausted to even think about a drink at that point, so I took a shower and tucked myself into bed at 6pm instead!
No matter how hard the situation you’re currently in feels, no matter how disappointed you are in the way your life is going right now, you do have a choice to try your best to fix it. Will everything turn out the way you imagined in your head? Maybe not. But if you put the effort in and you don’t give up, sometimes those images in your head will turn out even better than you ever imagined!
