Some Examples of Emotional Intelligence: You Can Too

On the way back to Calgary after a wonderful week in Jamaica, we ran into a few snags. It started at the Montego Bay Airport. The resort got us there in plenty of time, but boy was it ever busy. It was spring break and as we found out, spring break can stretch out 6 weeks these days, as different jurisdictions and countries plan spring breaks in March and April now. So the airport was a LOT busier than expected.

We must have been in that line up to get into security for at least an hour. But the tourists all seemed to be quite happy, so in spite of the long wait, adults and children seemed to be in good spirits. They were all great examples of emotional intelligence. It was nice to get on the plane though. We just took it all in stride. The flight went smoothly and was uneventful, until....

We were very close to landing our flight when our pilot apologetically told us the news. Apparently there was a very major power outage at the Calgary International Airport. Bizarre. So we were being diverted to the Edmonton International Airport instead.

As usual there was a range of reactions. One man was very sarcastic and upset over not landing in Calgary. He was pretty vocal. Other people silently stewed, brows furrowed. The flight crew did as much as they could.

I stood up to stretch my legs and I observed.

That night on that plane I didn’t react to the news of being diverted to Edmonton. We found out that the plane needed to refuel. Obviously they would've done it in Calgary, if they'd landed there on schedule. So I chose to remain neutral and be grateful that at least, we had somewhere to land close by and refuel. It would’ve been an issue if we were hundreds of miles away from a safe landing. I realized that there was much to be grateful for.

Contrast that adult reaction to the children who were on the plane. Parents allowed their children to run up and down the aisle. God knows, they earned it, after sitting relatively quietly for some 6.5 hours by then. They were great examples of emotional intelligence. The kids just took the bad news in stride and found a way to enjoy themselves anyways.

There were more examples of emotional intelligence. By that I really mean that people were making their choices and if that was a positive one, then they were being resilient and understanding. they understood they had NO CONTROL over the situation whatsoever, but that they did have control over themselves.

We landed in Edmonton. The fueling truck came along and the driver tried to hook up the nozzle to the plane, only to find out the nozzle was broken. It couldn’t refuel! As the pilot announced a further delay, people began to laugh at the sheepish tone in the pilot’s voice. I mean, I could tell, he couldn’t believe this was happening. So we waited for another truck – which was refueling a different plane. More delays.

This time, the attitude was light, as people began to remember that they’d just come back from laid back Jamaica. One guy even said, “No problem, mon!” and laughed. It felt considerably lighter on the plane as spirits lifted. More examples of emotional intelligence.

The bottom line is, self control is all the control you really have. Things happen that you may not like, but they're tests to see how you’re going to handle disappointments. It’s always your choice to feel good no matter what is happening.

And the night wasn’t over! When we arrived at the carousel in Calgary to pick up our luggage, we discovered that a piece of our luggage had been damaged. A wheel broke off.

I just observed again. But my husband immediately knew what to do. He took our luggage and headed straight to the Westjet customer service person and reported the damage. She happily gave us a service order for luggage to be either repaired or replaced and gave us the instructions that we needed. Then we finally headed home.

I realized what a LONG way I had come. In years past, I would’ve been really upset, either complaining loudly or sitting and stewing silently. Either way, it wouldn’t have been good for me and certainly I wouldn’t have made things easy on the flight crew who were just doing their best keeping us abreast of the news.

You can do it too!

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