It's a Beautiful World

Beep. Beep. Beep
You blink twice before realizing your alarm is going off. For the fifth time. Damn. Giving yourself 0.5 seconds to wipe the sleep out of your eyes and kick yourself for sleeping in, you throw on the first thing you see in your closet. Brush teeth, smooth hair. Jumping in your car, you realize you don't have time to pick up that much needed coffee. Double damn. 
You drive to work, grumbling about staying up too late, that report you need to hand in, and the awful traffic. Why are people driving so slow! Have they never heard of being in a hurry?!  Oh, look at that..Should have filled up with gas on the way home after all. What a shitty start to a persons day right?

What does that have to do with traveling you may be thinking? 

Every single day, life presents you with obstacles and situations that challenge your patience, your ability to "deal". 

My biggest challenge has been learning how to "Shake it Out". Shake that mood, that little piece of something that hasn't gone the way you hoped. Bad days don't just happen at home, on a work day. The world is full of bad days. 

When Andrew and I woke up this morning to catch our bus, we were both exhausted, and far from ready to spend another day on a stuffy bus. We crept around the dorm room, careful not to wake the occupant of the top bunk. After collecting our things, we rushed across the street to eat breakfast. Thinking we were short on time, we crushed a coffee and muesli and quickly walked down to pick up water and snacks for the journey. Next in line at the 7/11, a man walked in the front entrance, stepped to the very front of the line, and proceeded to make his purchase. Umm, what?! This ignorance towards line ups has really boggled my mind here in Asia. Everywhere you go, people push and shove to reach their destination, and when there does seem to be some organization, someone always ignores it. Although frustrating, the best thing to do is just let it be. 
After paying for our water and crackers, we went back up to the hostel where we were told the bus would be late. 45 minutes late. Okaaay, so much for rushing. So we sat, tired and annoyed. Now we sit here on this little squishy van, with no idea if this is what will be taking us the 6 hours to Koh Chang, or if we are transferring onto an actual bus at some point.. We could sit here angry, demand the driver tell us where we are going, whether we paid for a  little van with broken a/c or a comfortable bus with working a/c (and a bathroom? Ok that's pushing it). Instead, we sit back, take a look around, and smile. 

As Jim Brickman says "Lalalala la la, it's a Beautiful World"

Wherever you are, take a minute to be thankful. Thankful to be healthy, to have a clean bed to sleep in, food to fill your hungry bellies. That's just the beginning. There is so much to be positive about in this wonderful world of ours. I'm not asking you to forget the people who are less fortunate, or the countries that are in need of so much.  Just take time out of your day to forgive "that guy" that cut you off, or have some patience with the "stupid" tele-marketers for doing their job. Smile at someone walking down the street. Thank the cashier ringing through your milk. Most of all, give the people you love a hug and kiss, and if you find yourself  in a crummy mood "Shake it Out".

I promise I'm working on taking my own advice!

I'll update all after our travels in Koh Chang. Thanks for reading.

Take a listen to Shake it Out by Florence + The Machine and Beautiful World by Jim Brickman

:)

A&C