Travel

I enjoy travel. But it also makes me anxious. 

I worry about every thing that can go wrong. I visualize in graphic detail things like missing flights, losing passports, and not finding hotels. I do this so well every day, I don’t even notice it. But on this trip, I did. I became aware.

On the first few days of the trip, I was trying to be ready for anything that could go wrong. I was trying to simulate all worst case scenarios in my brain. What if we don’t get tickets? What if the queues are too long? What if the roads are flooded? What if we miss the bus? What if the bus gets into an accident? I was completely drained - on a holiday.

I was assuming that my wife and kid had no agency or will. I was picturing them as helpless dependents. The reality, in fact, is quite the contrary. I am part of an extremely resourceful high agency family. My son seems to be following the mom’s footsteps in this department, thankfully.

This realization, turned things around for me. I felt light and happy, exactly how you are supposed to feel on a holiday. When I said, “first couple of days we struggled. but then we discovered our rhythm and started enjoying the trip”, I was talking about me.

So if you are like me, relax. Lower your guard. There is no tiger lurking in the bushes and you are also, probably, not going to a war. Let life unfold and, you my friend, enjoy the show.

P.S. Two excellent threads that helped me 

1. thread one

2. thread two