We must remember that things will not always go as planned, and it seems that this is especially true when it comes to travel. There are delays at airports and carefully planned vacations can be turned upside down by bad weather or a missing reservation.
My previous post chronicled my first cruise that happened as a result of change. If you think this was the only time I had to change course with my travel plans, think again.
I’m human and I was very disappointed when we booked a dream cruise to Alaska and had to change our plans. I tried every way I knew to make it work. Once I came to my senses and realized that a dream delayed was not the end of the world, I dusted off my passport and started planning again.
Background: I started cruising with Disney Cruise Line in 2010, and sailed the 7-night Eastern Caribbean itinerary on the Disney Magic. One word to describe my first Disney Cruise is AMAZING. From the elegant design of the ship to the stellar service on board, there is everything to love about DCL.
By 2015 my family and I had sailed both the Eastern & Western Caribbean itineraries a few times and decided that it was time to book our dream cruise with our favorite cruise line: Alaska, here we come! I mean, we had the whole book-save-sail thing worked out. We were pros. When we sat at the reservations desk on board the Disney Fantasy, we booked our cruise with expectation and excitement.
Math isn’t my favorite subject, yet it keeps creeping back into my life.
We crunched the numbers again, and what we thought was possible would have to wait.
How would I handle another delayed dream?
The most important thing I learned is that I could allow myself to feel disappointment as long as I did not allow it to become discouragement.
Discourage is defined as ‘to deprive of courage and confidence’.
Discouragement gets to the heart and deprives it of the strength we need to move forward.
Proverbs 17:22 says, “A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit (a.k.a. discouragement) dries up the bones.”
Disappointment means ‘to fail to meet the expectation or hope of’.
Disappointment will come and go. People will disappoint. Plans will disappoint.
Yet we can still move forward.
Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future”.
When I look back now, I see that my disappointment was a blessing in disguise.
When I delayed my cruise in 2016, I had no idea that my husband and I would travel to Lake Louise, Alberta before our Alaskan cruise. We needed winter clothing for the trip, and I bought everything we needed at the end of summer 2017. (I am also a frugal shopper, but that’s a tale for another time.) Our rebooked dream cruise to Alaska was in June 2018, and I already had the necessary clothing. Disappointment and delay also gave me more than enough time to find end-of-season bargains on the winter wardrobe my kids needed.
Dare I say that delay was a gift?
When you face delay, allow the feeling of disappointment to run its course, but don’t allow it to become discouragement. Extinguish disappointment with hope and keep moving forward. You’ve got dreams waiting to be fulfilled.
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