My last blog, “In Praise of the Simple Life,” portrayed a state of mellowness and contemplative calm. How sad that such a balanced stance does not seem sustainable. Having thought I found the “answers” to dealing with the stresses and strains of work and life, let me share with you how my journey’s end sorely tested everything I wrote.

Driving back from my retreat into the bushveld, I took a diversion to Maropeng, the site of the discovery of some of the most ancient humanoid remains. A museum commemorating ‘The Cradle of Mankind” exists buried under a grassy mound in the midst of a vast expanse of silent, undulating hills where our ape-like ancestors must have wandered.  The exhibit takes you on a Disneyworld-like boat ride through a dark cave into the origins of human existence and even further back to the beginnings of the earth itself.  Here you can grasp how the swirling gases and shifting plates of our little blue planet have been agitating for billions of years, and I felt humbled at how small and irrelevant we humans are in the grand scheme of things (so how can we take our problems so seriously?) and intrigued by the rumbling forces that have for eons shaped our world.

Arriving back in Johannesburg, I learned that these same forces are still operating.  The unpronounceable Icelandic volcano, rumbling for months, literally blew its top spewing noxious ash clouds across the flight paths of airplanes throughout Europe.  My return flight was booked via London, but all air traffic into northeast Europe was suddenly blocked. 

The next few days turned into an anxious vigil. Would I ever get home?  What should I do? Who could I talk to?  I checked the airline’s website and obsessively watched the news, but there was little information and no clarity. 

On departure day, I arrived at the airport at 5.30 a.m. somehow trusting the infrequently updated airline website’s claim that airspace was clear.  This proved false.  No one officially told us anything, so little clusters of thwarted travelers gathered, and rumors swirled.

It was interesting to see how people behave in a crisis and how critically important it is for anyone in a leadership position to communicate, to show empathy to disgruntled customers and to explain decisions.  For the most part, travelers were pretty good humored and accepting of the situation, but the instinct managers demonstrated of hiding and not talking to people during difficult times was exactly the wrong one.  And, why the website was not used as an effective communication tool is beyond belief.

Eventually, we were told to return later in the day.  For some, this was the fifth day in a row they heard this story.  The strain was starting to show.  I returned several hours later and joined the back of a queue that snaked back and forth across the terminal.  The morning crowd of hopefuls greeted one another like old friends.  Still, very little information was forthcoming.  Hours later, I discovered I was one of the lucky ones.  I was on the 11 p.m. flight which finally took off, to cheers, at midnight.

Arriving in London, I thought I was home and dry.  With just a few more hours of waiting, I would catch my connecting flight to Boston.  By now, I hadn’t properly slept for two nights, so I settled in at Heathrow’s fancy new Terminal 5 hoping to nab one of the few pods for sleepy travelers to rest their weary selves.  The hours passed in a haze. 

Finally, I boarded the plane. We waited.  And waited.  And waited. Five and a half hours later, we were still sitting on the plane waiting for engineers to correct a glitch in the warning system. By midnight, they gave up, so we were de-planed and sent to a nearby hotel.  By this stage, I was numb with fatigue. In the hotel, I fitfully watched the debate between Britain’s prime ministerial hopefuls on the telly before slipping into a deep sleep. 

Somehow, the next day back at Heathrow passed uneventfully until I finally boarded the aircraft – to more cheers (what a grateful lot we were!) and to another delay (while they fished out luggage checked in for passengers who did not show up). Finally, I landed in Boston – almost four days after I set out.

Despite browsing all the stores, perusing every newspaper and finishing an entire novel, I had lots of time for idle reflection. The concept of a frustrating journey and an eventual landing was, I realized, a perfect metaphor for a job search.

–       The reason people get so agitated and frustrated when plans go awry seems more about loss of control and fear of operating in a complete information vacuum than about what is actually happening.

–       The randomness and lack of predictability of events can throw your world off kilter. Being unable to reach your destination or influence your destiny is pretty aggravating.

–       The realization that there is no one in authority to whom you can appeal is unnerving.  Even if someone has information you need, you are not always sure how to access it.

–       You may have been perfectly happy where you are, but now that it is time to leave, you want to quickly get out.

–       That some people are put on flights after a wait of only a few hours while others have to wait for days shows there is an inherent unfairness in life (like in the job market). No orderly queue exists with rational selection criteria, and the winners are often those with a knack for being in the right place at the right time.

–       Having comrades in suffering makes your difficulties more bearable than enduring them alone.

–       In the end, you have no choice but to sit tight, to seek out the best information you can, to be flexible and create contingency plans, and to trust that, eventually, you will land.

Photo Credit Gunnar Ries zwo 

Fredia Woolf , founder of Woolf Consulting, blogs to help people improve their workplace effectiveness and optimize their careers.  As an organizational consultant and leadership coach, she works with clients to increase insight, inspiration and impact. She can be reached at fwoolf@woolfconsulting.com.

What Happens when a Volcano Rocks your World?  https://blog.execsearches.com/2010/04/30/what-happens-w…cks-your-world/

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Last updated on May 6th, 2010 at 04:25 pm