Your Ability to Adapt is Your Ultimate Superpower | David T.S. Wood

How do you respond in the midst of negative circumstances? Do you allow yourself to give in to emotions of anger, rage, or frustration? Or do you accept whatever happened and move forward? How do you respond when things don’t go the way you planned, and you get pushed off track? In this episode of My Extra Mile, David T.S. Wood shares some stories about the power of adaptability. Changing your outlook on your circumstances can change the trajectory of your life.

You will want to hear this episode if you are interested in... How David almost lost his home to a fire Learn to adapt with the little things to adapt to the big How David’s son’s car accident changed his life How to adapt in the most difficult of circumstances David’s superpower in practice

 

Years ago, David was at a concert when a storm rolled in. Lightning was striking left and right and people were running for cover. David and Asta wandered into a local bar instead. A friend called him and said, “Dave, your house is on fire!”

 

David is standing in a bar having just learned that his house is presumably on fire. But he realized there was nothing he could do. So, he called the bartender over and asked for two shots of tequila. So, they sat and sipped their tequila before driving home.

 

When they drove back to his house, they spent 4-5 hours fighting the fire side by side with his neighbors and the fire brigade. At 3 am, when things had died down, he served everyone drinks in his garden by the pool.

 

His reaction was his superpower: he adapted. He had to make some choices: If the house isn’t there, what am I going to do? How am I going to feel? Am I so attached that my life will change or end if it’s gone?

 

If the house had completely burned down, he would’ve started a new chapter. He could rebuild or take the money and move somewhere else—it didn’t matter. If it was gone, it was gone. David knew he could handle it.

 

Can you look back on the worst thing that’s ever happened to you and realize it was actually the best thing that ever happened?

 

The world is constantly adapting—and so must you

 

The world has changed. But the world is always changing. It is completely transformed. Adapting to the world that is, is not about holding on to what was. It comes down to your ability to adapt to what is really happening versus what you wish is happening. You have to accept the reality of what is.

 

Adaptability has to be practiced with the small things. In the moment where you’re wishing something is different, you are living in regret, anger, and emotions that don’t serve you. But what if you can develop supreme adaptability? What if you live in a world where you can accept everything that’s happening as it’s happening? Where you can shrug something off and say, “If it happens, it happens.”

Negative events can change everything for the better

 

David’s son was in a horrible accident where he veered off a road and eventually smashed his car into a large tree. The tree was on the edge of a steep cliff. His son was in shock. His beloved car was wrapped around a tree. The accident was the accident. The response to the accident—and the story they created—is what they could control. The car was a complete write-off, but he had to move on. If he had the car, he may have stayed in their small town. But he ended up moving to Vancouver and eventually Montreal. This one awful moment in time changed the course of his entire life.

Cultivate the superpower: learn to adapt

 

David shares a call-to-action: Cultivate the ability to accept things as they happen. You can mourn, you can be upset, but you can choose when it ends and when you move on. Accept what is happening, choose your mourning period, adapt quickly, then move on. You’ll see a whole other world open up in front of you.

 

The people that can’t adapt get stuck. They live there for years. They carry it around like a great big weight on their back. You have the power to choose how long you’ll be stuck in that moment and how quickly you’ll move out of it. You can’t go back in time and wish it was different. What’s done is done. But you can handle and endure anything if you learn to adapt.

 

Listen to the whole episode for more impactful stories and encouragement from David.

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