Adaptability

A couple of years back, I paid to take a test called StrengthsQuest. StrengthsQuest is like your standard personality or spiritual gifts tests, only it judges your talents, or your strengths. It's a very high-quality, scientifically-based study done by Gallup. They've found that people who know their natural gifts and work on building those strengths into talents are more successful than people who try to be good at things that they are not naturally gifted at. (Of course there are exceptions to this).

Much to my surprise, not only did StrengthsQuest seem to be quite accurate at naming my top five strengths (or "Signature Themes"), but the test really helped me to understand myself and the people around me. It especially affects my ability to work as a team with others. I no longer wonder why things work or do not work when it comes to teamwork; I now view people through the way their strengths cause them to operate.

Last week I attended a StrengthsQuest seminar, at which I was given a free code to take the test again. After several years, I fully expected that my themes would have changed. Again, to my surprise, the test remained true. Four of my five themes remained the same.

The most surprising thing to me of all is that both times my number one theme has been Adaptability. I would not have considered myself, prior to StrengthsQuest, a very adaptable person. Now that I've explored this side of myself, I think that, naturally, I do tend toward adaptability. But (here comes the nature vs. nurture argument) my family are much more rigid, plan-ahead sort of folks. This has definately put a damper on my adaptability, and I think that's why I find myself becoming more and more "go with the flow" as I grow older and spend more time away from home.

Yes, I'm actually getting to a point here.

Yesterday I left Union at 4:30 to go to Omaha and catch a flight home. I was supposed to leave at 6:40, layover in Atlanta, and get to Philadelphia just after midnight. Instead, when I got to my gate, I discoverd that Delta was in utter pandemonium. Evidently, due to spring break, they had grossly overbooked virtually every flight, on top of only having two ticket agents working that night. Things were messy. They were offering $400 in flight vouchers, a night in a hotel, and two meal vouchers for any volunteers to be bumped. (Interestingly enough, one kid stepped up, volunteered, and instead of rescheduling his flight the next day, used his $400 to take the next flight to Cancun. Just like that!)

After a little wavering, I said to myself "Self, you are Adaptable! Volunteer!" So I did. (The 400 bucks helped).

Before agreeing to the delay, I checked to make sure they could get my bags off the plane. A night in a hotel without a toothbrush or change of clothes didn't excite me. They assured me that my bags would be retrieved before the plane left. But my adaptability was tested moments later.

The plane pulled back from the gate. My bags were on it. I wasn't a happy camper. But I was adaptable! I sucked it up, figured I could get a toothbrush from some giftshop and sleep in my t-shirt... it was all good.

And then the plane pulled back to the gate with mechanical trouble. I jumped on that chance--I asked for them to get my bags off, and they dug around and found them for me. An hour later, I was headed to a hotel, suitcase in hand, and the plane was still at the gate, full of (cranky, I'm sure) passengers.

Now here's the kharma of the whole thing. (And by "kharma" I mean "God"). I only had a 40 minute layover in Atlanta. Had I not taken the bump, I would have missed my connecting flight to Philly and had a hot sleepover date with an airport chair in Atlanta. Oh, and did I mention I would have been out $400?

Moral of the story: Well, first off, I love how God looks out for us. Secondly, find out what you're good at, and do that. Even when you're not really feeling like it so much. I just wanted to get home.

Instead, I got the Doubletree Hotel, the most posh hotel I've ever stayed in. I slept in an amazing king-sized bed, enjoyed my own luxurious room (15th floor!) for the first (and probably last) time in my life, and ate like a queen at the hotel dining room for breakfast. This was the kind of hotel where they give you a warm chocolate chip cookie when you check in and a newspaper is outside your door when you wake up. The coolest thing was a nifty clock-radio that had a cord attached to plug your iPod into. I had my tunes, a TV, and did I mention a king-sized bed? (Sorry, but I haven't had much experience with those and it was really cool). I didn't even have to wake up very early. And I got paid $400 for that.

All in all, it was a really delicious inconvinience.