It was a gorgeous summer day. Clear blue skies with hardly a cloud. A slight breeze and little humidity. My windows were rolled down, the air conditioning was off, the sound system was off, the cell phone was off and driving along the highway at 55 MPH… it was a gorgeous summer day. The quiet, the smells of summer with a light breeze coming in the car windows. All was good. Really good.

This is how we met. Mother Nature must have wanted us to meet at this time, in this place, in this way. She must have flown in the window. Clearly unannounced and unnoticed.

A pain in my back. WOW! This hurt! It must be a bee, a hornet, a wasp about three quarters of the way up my back right on the spine. Now we are together driving along on the highway at 55 MPH. The stinging hurts – A LOT! To myself – “Okay, have to think as you are not stopping and there is no where to pull over”.

By moving too much, whatever it is might come up to my head, my neck or my face or drop down into the back of my pants.

My only thought is how to stop the stinging! Okay – the solution is to drive, to push my back, as hard as possible, into the seat back, essentially right into the thing. To myself – “If there is something causing you pain – address it – go right after it”. The intention was to trap her and potentially smash her enough to get the stinging to stop.

Finally off of the highway and in the parking lot. Jumping out of the car and looking back at my seat. There she was – still alive! A nice sized wasp.

My initial thought was to swat her out of the car and crush her with my shoe! She bit me and it was really hurting my back!

My workout towel was in the back seat so sliding her out of the car was easy enough to do. She would fend for herself now. It was how we met. Goodbye.

The mirror in the office restroom showed the exact bite spot where now a half golf ball size welt was becoming larger and surrounded by redness. The back of the shirt where the bite took place actually had a hole in it! Was this a wasp or a vampire?

Later in the day there was another appointment to drive to.

It was a gorgeous summer day. Clear blue skies with hardly a cloud. A slight breeze and little humidity. My windows were rolled down, the air conditioning was off, the sound system was off, the cell phone was off and driving along the highway at 55 MPH…it was a gorgeous summer day. The quiet, the smells of summer with a light breeze coming in the car windows. All was good. Really good.

Bottom Line: You can let an incident ruin a second, a minute, an hour, a day or a lifetime. You can buy a new shirt. Will you let the incident change you? Your mindset? Your behavior?

Tell me how you handle incidents that happen to you in your life from the small ones to the big ones?

Mitch Tublin is an advanced certified executive and personal coach who resides in Stamford, CT.

>>Contact Mitch to work on your mindset today!<<