Over the last few days, I spent a lot of time focusing on accepting things that are out of my control.

Later this week my wife and I plan to spend a few days in San Francisco to see a concert. It’s been years since we visited and we have been excited to return for a long time. But last week we received an email from Air Canada stating that a strike was looming and set to start the day before our trip.

I knew that if this happened, we would be reimbursed for our expenses. We could go somewhere else or wait to go at a later date. The greatest loss would be missing the concert, something that couldn’t be replaced.

Still, as disappointing as the prospect was, I remained calm. I accepted that the outcome was entirely out of my control — that getting upset would change nothing.

And though we hear it all the time, it’s often hard to practice.

It felt good, almost relaxing in a way, to deal with a stressful situation without stress.

And a bonus is that the strike was called off.