Damn.
Bad planning, bad researching, taking visa advice from people who didn't know what's up (similar to myself), and strick visa policies compared to most all other countries. I thought in two days I would be in the middle of this picture celebrating the most colorful cultural celebration in the world called Holi, which is a Hindu holiday celebrated mostly in northern India. And for those who know me, it's kind of a big deal.
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| You see me in the middle of this pic? Yeah, I sure do. But that will have to wait for next year |
I must admit I feel good about the way I handled it. Sure I got quite for long periods of time trying to figure a way around because this was the first time I was unable to get into a country when I wanted. Reeeeeejecccctteeddddd!
You see, for those who know me, when I was much younger I would have freaked out and broke some stuff, but this time, no, no, no. I spoke to the embassy officer with a patient and understanding voice and pleaded our case all while feeling a sense of inner peace. And then he calmly and peacefully told me I wasn't going to get in the country. Easy for him to say!
As this was going on I hadn't even thought about the potential of leaving the airport where we were set to have our layover and turning it into another trip. It was just pretty over as far as I was concerned. As I pondered my friend Aaron came up with the Malaysia idea and other ideas started to unfold and smooth out on top of that.
BAM!
"Oh, easy for you to make the best out of not going to India and now going to Borneo or somewhere else amazing!"
Sure that's a good point and it did make it easier. But at the same time I missed something I would have loved to be at and also lost a bunch of money at the same time.
But you see all that really isn't my point.
The point is these things happen to us every single day in one way or another. The first time I noticed myself handle a situation well was when I was turning left into a parking lot and the guy in front of me wasn't turning left when he had the chance. FREAK OUT TIME. Wrong. I stayed patient and understanding there must be something going on and when I looked left there was a young person crossing the crosswalk.
Dang it feels good to keep your cool when you would have looked like and felt like an IDIOT. Now that's some real growth.
The lesson for me and how I learned how to make lemonade from lemonade is to just take it easy and accept what IS. Then you can learn from it. Do not take a small piece of the day and label it to be such an influence on your attitude for the entire day because it is so small and it may cloud your perception when other great things happen around you. You see, when you finally lay down in bed at the end of the night, everything turns to lemonade again, which is exactly what it was when the day started.
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| Now enjoy a glass on me. |
