Even though my book on stress reduction was just published, I forgot to practice what I preach on my trip to Egypt. I had managed to pick a travel company that was careless in itinerary planning. Plans were changed at least once daily, seldom for the better. In Middle Egypt, where tourists seldom frequent, my husband and I were told the car, driver and guide to take us on our next leg was unavailable and we had to take the train on our own.
By that time we had been fighting unexpected and undesirable changes for a whole week, usually a losing battle. Suddenly it occured to us that we were contributing to our own stress when we refuse to accept the inevitable. So we changed our perspective and decided to just go with whatever happened next and consider the unexpected train trip as an adventure. After all, nightmare trips of today can become good travel stories of tomorrow.
The train trip was pretty bad, a far cry from what we had contracted and paid for. But with our change in attitude, we just laughed about all the mishaps. Even though the travel professionals we paid let us down, the Egyptian people unconnected with tourism were wonderfully helpful, and that was a good experience we would not have had otherwise.
Besides a good travel story, this experience has also become a good illustration to use in the stress reduction trainings I offer, of the difference between stress that is unavoidable and the self-created stress we add to it by our state of mind.
Nancy Tan, LCSW
Author: QUIET MIND, HEALTHY BODY: The Art of Low Stress Living
www.FigGardenYogaStudio.com
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