Known of The UnFear: The Rachael Ray Story

Joshua Seth - Backstage at TV taping

“But I have a valid US Passport and a photocopy of my driver’s license. That proves that I am who I say I am right?”

No go.

Apparently I could have forged the photocopy. And here I thought I’d been pretty forward-thinking to even carry back-up copies of all my important documents with me.

“Listen, why don’t you just have the airport police call the DMV in California and verify that I do in fact have a valid driver’s license by reading them the info that is on this copy.”

Not gonna happen. Turns out it’s illegal to rent a car in the great state of Massachusetts without a physical driver’s license. Game over. Next please!

I was left standing at the rental car counter at the Boston-Logan International Airport, passport in hand, slowly realizing that there was no way I was going to be able to rent a car today. I’d just flown in and was supposed to drive to a college in Vermont to perform my hypnosis show that night but suddenly my license was gone, just disappeared. No idea what happened to it and no amount of searching through my bags turned up anything more useful than the dog-eared, folded up photocopy I was now holding uselessly in my hands.

It was Labor Day. There were about a million other people swarming around me. And it was suddenly very, very hot.Time to call my agent.

When you travel as much as I do, about 300 days a year, you get used to life’s constant little surprises. You learn to just roll with them. As I say in my Seminars, there’s very little in life that we have control over other than our own thoughts and our own responses to external stimuli; so rather than worry about the control we don’t have we can all lead happier lives by embracing the unknown and accepting every new situation as an opportunity to learn and grow.

If you can do something about it, great, take action. If not, then resolve to enjoy the ride and when you see where it’s taking you… then paddle like hell to get where you want to go. Worrying solves nothing.

I was about to be given a chance to put this philosophy to the test. I already knew I was stranded, what I didn’t know was that I was stranded in the wrong city!

“What are you doing in Boston?” asked my agent, “That gig was postponed for three weeks from now. Didn’t you get the email?”

pause…

pause becoming longer pause…

“Uh, no. I got up at 6am. I got on a plane and flew 1,000 miles. But no, I didn’t get an email telling me that I had the day off.” Ugh!

So here I am in Boston, without a license, without a gig, and without a way home. It was Labor Day and there were a few other people trying to get home too and almost all of them had planned it out a bit earlier than me.

Should I have been stressed out? Maybe. I was certainly in an unsustainable situation that was entirely outside of my control. Pretty much the definition of stress. Still, don’t know what good stressing out would have done. Probably just upset me. Instead I bought a bottle of water, found a nice spot to sit in, and called up a few friends to ask them how there holiday weekend was going. Turns out one of those friends, a magician by the pretty punny name of Justin Kredible, was in New York City preparing to shoot a segment for the Rachael Ray show. Her show was paying all his expenses for the week and had put him up in a posh hotel in midtown Manhattan.

Long story short, I bought a bus ticket to the Big Apple and a few hours later Justin and I were walking around Times Square, brainstorming ideas for his big TV appearance while enjoying a bag of hot roasted peanuts from a sidewalk vendor. Ahh, good times

As we were enjoying the neon lights of the city I was reminded of the time I chose to be homeless during college. I was a philosophy major at NYU at the time and wanted to experience what it would be like. I’d grown up pretty safe and sheltered in a small town in the MidWest and had a fear of losing that feeling of security. I lived out of a backpack and budgeted myself on a dollar a day for food. Sometimes I’d ride the subway all night. Other times I’d meet someone in class and sleep in their bathtub. I only did this for about a month, but ever since that experience I’ve been completely comfortable with the idea of losing everything and starting over. I know from experience that it won’t kill me and as they said in Blade Runner “Whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”. I got over that fear a long time ago and now getting stranded is all just a part of the amazing game of life.

Is there a lesson in this? A point perhaps? I certainly hope so. When we learn to let go of our fear of the unknown and instead embrace change and uncertainty as fuel for adventure we open ourselves up to new opportunities, new possibilities, and all kinds of new experiences. Maybe even a backstage pass to a TV show taping

As I write this, it’s a few days later and I’m flying on a plane to Jeuno, Alaska. This was totally unexpected. I do not even have a coat with me. This gig came in yesterday after the TV taping and when it was offered I said “Sure, I’ve never seen a glacier before, sounds like fun!” I’ll let you know.

The wild ride continues.

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