End of the World

Sometimes things don't go as planned. Or should I say, most times. One of the most challenging things I've done in my life is direct live TV shows. I'd plan, practice, test the equipment, practice some more, build in back up plans, and then go for it.

How often did newscasts go exactly as planned? Ah, let me count. . . I'm going to have to go with never. Now, sometimes the changes were caused by equipment problems. Sometimes it was because one of the production crew didn't do what they were suppose to do at the right time. Sometimes it was because the anchor flubbed up a word. Sometimes it was because the producer kept changing things on the fly. Sometimes it was because the reporter or editor or photographer (or all of the above) would miss their deadline. And yes, sometimes it was because I would mess something up.

Regardless, the more I dealt handling these changes, the better I got. I learned that just because things didn't go as planned, it wasn't something I needed to let impact the whole rest of my life. I have little self affirmations I use at times like these.

And they come from songs I enjoy.

Examples:

By the way, "Auto-da-Fe" is a reference to the Spanish Inquisition which has come to mean over time "Darned if you do, darned if you don't".

I've found that there are times that I'm faced with two situations--and neither seem the right choice. It's like if you get asked the question, "Are you sure you're lying?" How do you answer that? "Yes" means you're sure you were breaking the 9th commandment. If you answer "no", you're still are agreeing that you lied, even if you weren't. And it makes it sound even worse because it can be taken that you are trying to hide it by telling another lie.

Fortunately, rare is the case where there are only two choices. I'd say, even more rare are the times when things go exactly as planned. It's at those times that I try to learn from the experience, and tell myself, "You know what? It's really not the end of the world."