Recently, I booked a trip to Los Angeles.

Oh, I had big plans.

Writing workshops. Play dates with friends. Snowcone Margaritas. Spending an afternoon frolicking through the cutest stationery store in the history of ever.

I even rented a co-working space with polka dot and striped walls. Swoon.

Life was going to be…amazing!

Except, on the second day of my trip, there was a storm. An epic, apocalyptic storm.

The storm made the mountains of Malibu —where we were staying — scary mudslidey and rocky. So much so, that we were trapped. The roads were closed.

No more workshops. No more play dates. No more polka dots. All plans cancelled. Effective immediately.

I couldn’t believe my bad luck —and for an hour or so, I went into major grumpy mode. What about all my plans and visions? My cute stationery shopping spree? Stupid weather. This SUCKS.

But then, I came out of my grump-fog and opened my eyes.

I was staying at an amazing house. On a freaking mountain. Next to the home of PAT BENETAR. Um. Life could be worse.

Sure, it was soggy and muddy outside. But my dogs were having so much fun playing and romping around… and pretty soon, us humans got into the spirit of things, too.

Our gracious hosts broke out their best wine and we chilled out and sipped vino every night. Since we couldn’t drive to the store, we pooled together everything in the fridge and whipped together some amazing healthy meals (it was like Iron Chef: the Malibu edition!). We hiked through the rain and breathed in the fresh, clean air.

While my original LA plans had been super cool, this unexpected “change of plans” turned out to be completely incredible, too. (In a lot of ways, it was better than anything I could have possibly planned.)

I’m so glad I changed my attitude right at the beginning of the week.

Otherwise I would have moped and grumped around for days, completely missing all of the awesomeness that was happening, right where I was.

Isn’t this a perfect metaphor for our professional lives and businesses?

So often, what we “expect” doesn’t happen — and we become so tense, agitated and miserable as a result.

You expect to have a sold out workshop. Expect that your latest blog post will get tons of comments. Expect that your launch will break the Internet with its awesomeness. Expect that folks will respond a certain way to the products you create. Expect that your work-cation to LA will be full of sunshine and string bikinis and mint lemonade. But rarely (if ever!) do things turn out exactly the way you expect. And that… is OK.

The next time you’re grumping out because things aren’t happening the way you “expected,” pause for a minute. Look around you. Find something to appreciate.

Remember that this “change of plans” might, in fact, be better than anything you had originally envisioned.

Romp around in the dirt. Breathe in the fresh air. Throw an impromptu party with good friends —because, hey, you’re trapped by a rockslide, so why not?

Don’t get stuck in the mud.

Make it your playground.

Find something to love.