On Friday, our teaching and learning team enjoyed a holiday luncheon. It was simple. A baked potato bar, soup, salad, crispy chicken, and half sweet tea. We played Motown hits through my Bluetooth speaker and decorated with holiday festive tablecloths and centerpieces. There are all together about 22 people on our team.
Little did the group know that about an hour before lunch time, we had a potato crisis on our hands. The restaurant said they didn’t have our order. I started to beat myself up. Did I not place this order? Why didn’t I place it? How irresponsible of me! I called a different location to see if perhaps it was called in there. No dice. Still no potato order. But luckily, they said they could get the potatoes baked in about an hour. Great, let’s go for it. And we did. And we pushed the lunch start time back a bit. What could we do? The best we could do in the moment. That’s all we could do.
I found myself privately in a negativity spiral, questioning other decisions I had made. Decisions as small as my gifts for the team. Once a year there is a big candle sale, and I used that candle sale as an opportunity to buy a three wick candle for each member of the team in assorted scents. I wrapped all twenty two of them (not well…) and passed them out after lunch. I thought to myself, “This isn’t personalized or creative.”
As the team finished their potatoes and unwrapped their candles, they expressed gratitude and enjoyment of the candles. Surely they were just being polite. And then suddenly each table began almost in unison…a candle swap. Laughing and smelling each other’s candles, they began to trade and talk about why a particular candle was a good fit for this person or that person. What started as a nice, lack luster gesture turned into a fun moment of camaraderie.
In the middle of said candle game, I received a text from the restaurant. My “order was ready.” I had indeed placed that order to be picked up at the time I originally thought. The person on the other line when I called the first time was simply mistaken.
What’s my point in telling you all of this?
1. Trust yourself. Don’t let misunderstandings, setbacks, or the questioning of others make you believe you are incapable or on the wrong path.
2. Things often work out in the end. Whether it’s candles, baked potatoes, or that initiative you’re super worried about…it’s going to work out. Maybe not the way you hoped or intended. But it will work out.
3. Maybe cut yourself and others a little slack. Most of us are doing the best we can or know how to do.
4. It doesn’t have to be perfect or extravagant to meaningful.
5. Sometimes, when things don’t go as planned, the stress of the moment can make for a great story later.
MEGHAN LAWSON 
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