Monday 14 April 2014

Stop and smell the roses

Life's moments happen so quickly, they come and go, some highs and some lows. It is impossible to stop time, but it is possible to stop and enjoy it. One thing I have realized is sometimes instead of fretting the details, you need to just stop and have a good time. I think people have this mind set that in order to be happy and have a good time, all the elements of that situation have to be in your favour. Let me tell you a story. When I flew to Kenya this past summer the 
elements were for sure not in my favour. First off my flight to paris was delayed so I literally got off one 8 hour flight, and got straight on another. The flight into Nairobi was long and tiring and to make matters worse the airport had burnt down the week before, so we landed and walked onto a bare tarmack filled with small portable tents that held baggage, and immigration services. My group walked up to one of these small tents to hand in our travel papers, only to find it flooded with travellers anxiously waiting to get out of the chaotic Nairobi "airport" at 3 in the morning. After waiting over an hour in a crowd of complete strangers, we went to go pick up our bags. So here's the thing due to the lack of buildings at the airport the tent had open piles of luggage from all over the world with loose leaf papers saying where they were from. We walked into the tent and everyone quickly grabbed their bags as I stood there in utter shock that I had no luggage. I was about to travel to the middle of rural Kenya, with no clothes, no toothbrush, no anything, all with a group of complete strangers. I guess the only "lucky" thing was that I wasn't the only person to have absolutely no possessions other than a bible, a camera, and some granola bars. This person and me coped through this awful situation, and literally became inseparable throughout our trip. You wouldn't see one of us with out the other, and you always associate us as a pair. It's funny how I met one of my best friends, because of a situation that was far from ideal. Instead of dwelling on the details, I just let it go and ended up having one of the most amazing experiences of my life. Just to let you know four days later my luggage was driven out to our camp and I can't say that I wasn't off the walls excited to put on a clean shirt. The moral of the story is that sometimes it's more enjoyable to play in the mud, than to struggle out of it. Instead of allowing myself to swell on the bad, I stopped and smelled the roses and just let life happen. Slow down, be okay with the letting the details go, and allow yourself to be happy when the world tells you to be down. 

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