If you’ve been feeling hopeless or down lately, get ready for the pick-me-up of a lifetime, because this is the most inspiring story of human perseverance you’re going to read all day: This woman just located the restaurant bathroom purely through her own grit and instinct.
Absolutely stunning. It’s amazing what human beings can accomplish even when the odds are completely stacked against them.
When Lana Byrd first excused herself to go to the bathroom while having dinner at the Arrowhead Bar And Grill, she found herself confronted with a world of uncertainty and confusion. This was her first time eating at Arrowhead, and she had no idea where the bathroom was. However, instead of flagging down a member of the restaurant staff to ask for directions, Lana did something as courageous as it was reckless: she decided to find the bathroom entirely on her own.
For the next two minutes, Lana weaved her way through a dense jungle of busy servers and chatting diners, guided by nothing but her own intuition. Miraculously, she found herself gravitating toward an alcove near the door to the kitchen that seemed to lead into a small hallway.
“A lot of times the bathrooms are in little corridors next to the door to the kitchen, so I figured I’d look for where all the servers were coming out with food and look for the bathroom around there,” said the modern-day Shackleton while recounting her tale of intrepid exploration and discovery. “I guess I could have asked somebody to point me in the right direction, but it just kind of made sense that the bathroom would be somewhere around there.”
As Lana continued to make her way toward the little hallway near the kitchen, she was able to deduce that she was getting closer to her destination using nothing but her wits and pure survival instincts to interpret signs in her environment. Another diner emerged from the alcove wiping his hands on his pants, which Lana read (correctly!) as a sign that he might have just come from washing his hands in the men’s room sink and that they were still a little damp. She also noticed that there were black-and-white pictures of 1960s crooners like Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin on the wall, suggesting that this area of the restaurant was designed for customer use and that the bathroom might be near.
Unfortunately, hardship and tragedy are all too common during trailblazing expeditions, and it was at this moment that Lana’s journey to locate the restaurant bathroom encountered a devastating setback. Once she entered the hallway, she opened the first door she saw and found herself staring into a supply closet.
“There was a mop sitting in one of those wheeled carts of soapy water, and shelves full of boxes of napkins and extra silverware on them,” Lana recalled. “I was like, ‘This is not the bathroom,’ and I immediately left.”
While most people might have given up after a traumatic disaster like this, Lana Byrd isn’t most people. She’s completely immune to fear, and the word “failure” just isn’t in her vocabulary. Instead of returning to her table, she pressed on, scanning the hallway for signs that the bathroom might be near.
Her bravery paid off: just a few moments later, she found herself in front of a door with a picture of Annie Oakley on it. Above the picture, the word “COWGIRLS” had been painted. Lana had found the bathroom.
We often hear stories of brave pioneers who risk it all to dive headlong into the unknown. Amelia Earhart, Tenzing Norgay, Neil Armstrong. Today Lana Byrd can count herself among these pioneers. Equipped with nothing but her own mind and her indefatigable spirit, she located the bathroom at Arrowhead Bar and Grill without once asking for directions. We salute Lana Byrd for proving that anything is possible and inspiring all of us to chase our dreams!
