Character is shown in the face of adversity. Your attitude determines what you see and what you are willing to do with whatever is available to you.  Choose a positive attitude and suddenly you have placed yourself in a world filled with positive possibilities.

I have been travelling quite a bit in the last few weeks, and as most people find with travel, there are life lessons around every corner. This last trip to Aruba had a very prominent lesson – the power of a positive outlook.

On this trip Daniel and I had quite the adventure. It could have been quite a disaster (some people might still consider it that), but it turned out to be a day that we loved and will never forget. The reason that the day was such a fun, hilarious and momentous adventure was because of the outlook we had towards it. It got me thinking about how we can choose to see every situation with a positive spin and by doing so we create a world of opportunities.

Everyday there are can be little things or big things that can make us upset, angry, and hurt. For Daniel and I, on this day trip, we managed to lose our keys, get a flat tire, and get stuck and stranded for hours. In any hard situation, we can turn to blame, shame and guilt. We can lash out, hide, or deflect. Or instead we can take a different approach, we can decide to see the cup half full. We can be proactive, hold ourselves accountable, and see the good in things.  By switching our perspective, we can change how we respond and we can create a different outcome. With a positive outlook, we can create good from any situation and help empower others to do the same.

Here are some ways to create this positive outlook and take action in your own life. I also thought I’d share our crazy day trip and what we learned from it.

How To Take Action

Here are a few ways to see struggles and situations with a positive and empowering outlook. So next time something comes up, try a few of these tips.

• Believe you are in control of your own happiness. Life isn’t happening to you, you are happening to it.
• Brainstorm ways you can be proactive in the situation.
• You can control how you behave and respond to any situation. How can you create a better outcome?
• Look at the situation as an opportunity to learn and grow. How can you become better from this event?
• Name 3 things you have to be grateful for in that moment.
• Take a big deep breath, and take a step back. Look at the big picture.
• Say words of empowerment – say things like “I’ve got this” or “I can do this”, and refrain from any limiting words like “I can’t”.
• It may be an awful situation, but what good can come from it? What positive outcome can you create from this event?
• Encourage those around you to look inwards and find their positive and empowered attitude.
• Surround yourself with positive people.

The Trip

The day started with us up at sunrise, in our off-road Jeep Wrangler, ready to do a complete lap of the island, and check out all the amazing caves and secret beaches that Aruba has to offer. To get the day started right, we went for a big run along sand dunes on the stormy Northern end of the island. It’s funny looking back at videos from the start of the day, us running around, doing sprints through the sand, and thinking we were doing serious off-roading – we had no idea what was to come and how much energy we would be expending. The day was filled with adventure and had 3 major events that had as embracing struggle and ready to conquer what lay ahead.

Event #1 – Lost Keys

We had been driving through the national park for a couple hours at this point, along this dirt “road” (tires marks left from other jeeps). Nothing in sight but the ocean and desert terrain of the national park. We arrived at a secret beach, where the current was so strong, the waves were coming in diagonally from opposite directions crashing against the jagged lava rocks. Definitely a no swim zone. Daniel and I spent some time checking out the cool rock formations and our handstands. After about 15 minutes of playing around, we headed back to the car to continue our adventure only to realize the keys were gone. They had fallen out of Daniel’s pocket. We ran back to beach, but they were nowhere in sight, and we knew instantly they were in the water – lost while doing handstands.

We were in the desert with no cell reception and no one around, we thought we might have to start hiking out. Thinking through our options, we decided to start the somewhat pointless task of wading through the turbulent water hoping, against all odds to find the keys. I grabbed a rock and dropped it where the keys likely fell to see how it would respond when the waves came – it was gone instantly, moving 10 feet into the ocean in a second. Daniel was up to his waist in the water, looking for the key with waves crashing around him. As we continued the search, Daniel managed to spot the keys, against all odds, but with another crash of waves they were gone. With the waves crashing around, unable to see through the white water, he managed to get his hands on them.We couldn’t believe it, we had found them. We were ecstatic, amazed how things always turn around. It was a close call and we were on top of the world. A little perseverance and a positive attitude and we had conquered our first mishap of the day. We were right back on track to our adventure, excited for what lay ahead.

Event #2 Flat Tire

We drove father into the national park, we were far away from civilization and hadn’t seen anyone for hours. From this point onwards the road began to get much worse. Every time there was fork in the road, we decided to go left to try and hug the coast in order to make a full lap of the island. This is a mistake if you ever go to Aruba. The “road” (dirt path) was no longer a road. We were encountering huge rocks, giant drops, and steep climbs. Initially we had been following the remnants of some dirt bike trails and it had gotten to point where we couldn’t imagine turning around.

We were amazed with what this Jeep Wrangler was able to do. We started making slogans for the car “Jeep – anything is possible”, joking we should be featured in their ads. About two minutes later, we were driving along a cliffside, with a giant drop-off towards the ocean, when BAM, our tire blows. A jagged rock had pierced the side of the tire, with all the weight of jeep going into it. We were on hill going down with the drop-off a couple feet over. We got out and started working on changing the tire. The heat was intense, the sun beating down with no shade anywhere in sight. Daniel got the jack out and started cranking up the jeep. Next thing we know, the car started to shift, moving forward and bending our jack, even with rocks under the tires. Somehow a rock had managed to keep the jack propped up and Daniel was able to change the tire. We were feeling pretty lucky and excited that we had mastered another bump in the day. We considered turning around, but we knew it would be brutal and would likely result in another flat. So we decided to continue on. At this point the road so bad and bumpy, I didn’t get back in, I walked ahead scouting the best route for the jeep to take.

Event #3 Stuck and Stranded

We only got another kilometre after the tire incident before we reached a treacherous hill to climb. I had climbed up to see if it was even possible to make it up with the jeep, while Daniel had decided to start tackling the climb. Reaching a tough spot he couldn’t get up, he decided to gun it. He got up the hump only to hit a giant rock that pushed the jeep backwards. The jeep was now high centered – sitting on a rock with all four tires spinning.

We kept trying to get car moving with no luck. We tried everything. We took turns trying to get the car to move with us sitting on the front or back to displace the weight. We kept filling underneath the tires with dirt and rocks, only to have it all spit back out as soon we turned the jeep on. We did this for hours, trying each time to fill underneath the tires with more dirt and bigger rocks. We also started digging away at some giant rocks that were stopping us from moving forward. We hacked away, until Daniel could pry them out of the ground. We even tried lifting the jeep, which was a pretty funny experience. Daniel was trying to coach me into the right position to lift it, which was simply just never going to happen. We also tried using the bent jack to get the car higher so we could fit rocks under the tires, but as soon as we tried the jack snapped in half instantly.

We were stranded out there with the car, stuck for hours. With the sun beating down on us in 40 degree weather, no shade to be found, no food or water since just after we lost our keys 1o hours ago, no cell phone reception, and no one in sight, we were very stuck and stranded.

In Aruba the suns sets at 6:30pm, and as the sun began to go down we continued to try and fill underneath the tires with more rocks. We knew our options were limited and we were quickly going to lose the light. Option 1 would be to sleep in the car, but with our flight the next morning that was feeling very risky. Option 2 was to begin the 6 hour hike out through rattlesnake and boa constrictor territory in the dark.  We decided to go with option two, and we started packing up our stuff to hike out with our phone flashlights.

We sat in the car getting ready to take on another part of this crazy adventure. With the sun setting over the hill, we looked up and saw this white goat on top of the hill. It was glowing, the sun was hitting it just right. I turned to Daniel and told him it was a unicorn goat, coming to cheer us on and help us out. We joked around, yelling out “thank you”, and saying how grateful we were for the goat’s wisdom, support and optimism. We enjoyed the moment, feeling ready to conquer what lay ahead. With all our stuff ready to go, we decided to give the jeep once last go before we started the hike out. As we tried, suddenly there was a little more movement, and as Daniel carefully navigated the drop off behind us, we were able to get out of the jam. We couldn’t believe it, we were free.

Then we realized, we had the tough devision to either turn around or try to make it up this climb again. We finally decided to turn around and retrace our way back. We hit the road fast, chasing the little light we had left. I kept my head out the window looking for rocks, while Daniel sped on. We came to a particular climb that car couldn’t get up. We turned on the high beams, jumped out, and started gathering rocks. As quickly as we could, we started building a road to help the jeep climb up the rockface. We got back in the car and tried again to make it up, pumping our arms and using our body weight to try and get the car to move forward. We made it up the climb, and from there we knew we were out of the woods. The sun was gone, but we had found a dirt road that would get us back safely. We drove on, beyond excited that the Jeep was moving, and then out in the distance we spotted some figures. It was a family of five who had been stranded as well, they had gotten two flat tires and had been walking for hours. Next thing we knew, the seven of us were piled into the Jeep, driving out of the national park. We were all so thankful that we would be returning safely to our beds.

Throughout this whole day, we were laughing and having fun. It never turned into something negative and never shifted into blame, shame or guilt. We felt empowered and grateful, and we were excited to conquer whatever lay ahead. Whenever we were faced with a new struggle, we were excited to embrace it, seeing it as opportunity to get stronger, better, and show our character. Remembering that “pioneers choose struggle”, a line that had come up the day before at our conference.

I think by trying to create a positive attitude in the face of struggle, you can gain a whole new perspective and change the outcome for the better. By having a positive mindset and trying to implement some of these tips, every situation becomes filled with amazing opportunities.

With love,

Lucy