We all know what happened at the Adele concert last night. It poured, it bucketed. We all (including Adele) got wet. We were humbled when a superstar like Adele put on a parka from the $2 shop just like us. There was solidarity in the wet, but more than that it taught us an important lessons about the choices we make when life doesn’t go to plan.
If there is one piece of wisdom that has stuck with me over the years it has to be that in any situation you only ever have 3 options.
You can the leave it.
You can change it.
Or you can accept it.
That’s it. It’s that simple. Every choice boils down to those 3 questions.
Now this thinking comes from author Eckhart Tolle (who incidentally was also listed by Watkins Review as the most spiritually influential person in the world in 2011). I heard this piece of advice not from Eckhart Tolle but from my less spiritual boss many years ago who told me about it over a cigarette and a glass of wine.
It had such a profound impact on my old boss’s life that he overcame his fear of flying. For me I also found it inspiring and would often remind the kids and myself of this – in every situation there are only 3 things we can do.
But then at the Adele concert last night in the pouring rain my belief system of the past 15 odd years was fundamentally rocked.
In torrential rain, on the last concert in a gruelling world tour she must have been bone tired and ready for it to just be over. By her own admission she says “Touring isn’t something I’m good at — applause makes me feel a bit vulnerable”
And then the heavens open up. While it was wet for us in the uncovered seats it was next level for her up on that stage and like all of us she had 3 choices.
She could leave it. She could decide it was simply too wet and call it off. But she didn’t.
She couldn’t change it. She could try and did set fire to the rain but that was ineffective and she probably wasn’t’ going to be able to build a roof in time. So changing was out.
She could accept it. When the concert started that is the conclusion I came to. I saw rise up from the middle of the stage and I thought, that’s awesome. She’s accepted it. 3 choices. Always.
And then I saw her walk out of the inner ring. Straight into the rain. I saw her throw her head back, look up the heavens, breathe it all in and laugh. Laugh at the wasted two hours in hair and make up. Laugh at the craziness that sees us all sitting in the rain. Laugh at the irony of the only show to rain being her last.
This wasn’t about accepting it. This was embracing it.
And then I looked around the crowd. To all my sodden neighbours who sat there for 3 hours. They could have left it – after 3 hours we all thought about it. We couldn’t change it. And we could have accepted it. But looking at my neighbours singing, dancing and smiling I knew we embraced it too.
Those of you who follow us on Facebook might also have seen a post that we put up of a shoot I did with Holly from Holly Estelle a couple of weeks ago where we ended up dancing in the rain (if you haven’t check it out here). So it’s not just a reserved for special occasions. Making a conscious choice to not just accept it but to embrace it is catching on!
And thanks to these people who dance in the rain and embrace what life throws at them I’m now going to change my mantra to 4 possible outcomes …
You can leave it.
You can change it.
You can accept it.
Or, you can embrace it.
Here’s to all the people out there embracing opportunities. Here’s to changing the way we look at bad days. And here’s to dancing and singing in the rain….