Traveling In a Time of Uncertainty

Are you feeling stuck?  Stuck in your little bubble of your house, grasping desperately for answers and connection to the outside world?  There is so much out there in terms of resources and virtual connection, but it is just not the same.  Not the same as face to face interactions and feeling your heart connect with another’s.  Once this all passes (and yes- this too shall pass) we will be more grateful than ever to connect with those who matter most.  We have been promoting that mission here at Bella Vista since day #1 “We believe in the power of connection and spending quality time with those who matter most.”  It is devastating that our guests are having to rethink their travel plans and their dreams to connect, in the current pandemic we find ourselves in.  So what do you do?  What can you do?

How to Stop Worrying & Start Living

I am in the throws of a great book by Dale Carnegie called “How to Stop Worrying & Start Living”.  I would love to share some tools that we have been putting into practice to find some sort of calm during this storm.  There is a magic formula introduced that helps you to solve your worry situation.  It involves 3 simple steps:

• 1. Ask yourself, “What is the worst that can possibly happen?
  2. Prepare to accept it if you have to.
  3. Then calmly proceed to improve on the worst.

It’s amazing what happens once you are willing to face the worst and accept it.  It’s almost like a new found freedom to think has been released.  You will most likely not be happy in accepting the worst, however when you force yourself to face this proposition and accept it, you eliminate all the jumble in your brain and put yourself in a position to actually concentrate and tackle the problem at hand.  From that day forward your energy can be used on improving the worst instead of dreading it and swimming in the open sea.

Analyze and Solve Worry Problems

The next set of tools that really helped is preempted by a condition which I believe we are all suffering from….confusion.  Herbert E Hawkes said “Half the worry in the world is caused by people trying to make decisions before they have sufficient knowledge on which to base a decision.”  This is definitely the crux that we find ourselves in with how to handle future 2020 bookings.  The COVID-19 situation is changing day by day and there is just not enough information to make informed decisions at this point.  I’m sure you are feeling the same.  So what can we do about it?  “We have to keep our emotions out of our thinking; and, as Dean Hawkes puts it, we must secure the facts in “an impartial, objective manner.”  Here are the 4 questions to start asking yourself:

1. What am I worrying about?
2. What can I do about it?
3. What am I going to do about it?
4. When am I going to start doing it?

It’s said that 50% of your worries vanish once you arrive at a clear, definite decision; and another 40% usually vanish once you start to carry out that decision.  That sounds nice, doesn’t it?  Now the work begins- actually sitting down, being real, and answering the above questions.  We’re all in this together!  We all have to do the hard work to “Rise Above” and choose the next right thing.