Recalculating the route … How to Deal with Change on the Fly

I have a newish car that I call Scarlett.  She is beautiful even with the slight hail damage that I am waiting to have fixed.  I felt ill the day I was driving home and the skies opened with golf ball sized hail.  There was nowhere to hide and Scarlett came away dimpled.  I was grateful to have her to protect me.

Anyway…Scarlett has GPS and helps me get to where I want to go when I don’t know how.  I appreciate that about  her.  She is helpful and protective and she and I are learning from each other.  One thing that sometimes happens is that Scarlett’s directions don’t match what I know to be true about the road systems her in Alberta.  There has been lots of construction here over the past year and new roads have opened up that I don’t think she knows about.  When I take her down a new road, she thinks for a moment and then says “Recalculating the route…”  and comes up with a new plan for me to follow.

I like that about Scarlett.  She isn’t angry or confused she just recalculates and we move on.  I wish it were that easy for people.  I have noticed that for some people it is.  They just CHANGE their plans…. no issue.  For others it seems impossible to recalculate or move away from the original plan.  These people demonstrate a loyalty to a plan that is fierce and can be destructive.  It is sometimes difficult to understand this need to stick with a plan unless you ask the questions about the significance of the plan and then ask about other paths to get there. 

A plan is just something to base change on.  That’s what a friend of mine always says.  I’m guessing that like Scarlett, he recalculates the route and keeps moving toward the destination.  He also says “order, counter-order, chaos” … you can change the plan once but not twice is what he is telling me.

People should be more like cars….