Reverb10 :: Everything's OK

I've decided to be a part of Reverb10. It's a 31-day blogging challenge where you reply to the daily writing prompts that are designed to get you to reflect on this past year as well as provide some insight for the upcoming year. I'm going to give myself 5-7 minutes for each post.

Day 24 :: December 24, 2010 :: Everything's OK

• What was the best moment that could serve as proof that everything is going to be alright? And how will you incorporate that discovery into the year ahead? (Author: Kate Inglis)

I was feeling stressed and overwhelmed in September and decided to take an unplanned trip to Dahab. Getting to Dahab at the last minute is possible, but you'll have to make some sacrifices and in my case, it was comfort. We took what turned out to be an 8 hour drive in a van on desert dark roads w/crappy rest stops sparingly along the way.

My last minute option for a place to stay was with a woman named Karen who I'd learned about on a list serve called Cairo Scholars. Me and some other folks would be staying at Karen's house for about 75 Egyptian pounds per day and that included breakfast; that's about $12 U.S. dollars.

One of our quad bikes/ATVs before things went astray. (Sept., 2010)

Karen's house is palatial by Egyptian standards: gated w/three bedrooms, a spacious porch and garden and on most days hot, running water. However, I would be sharing a room (and bed) w/another young lady and the mosquitoes would eat us up. Our other roomies, during our stay, were two other American boys. We all got along just fine, but I never felt relaxed while on my Eid vacation. I was still stressed: in an unfamiliar environment w/new people and pseudo-trouble lurking around nearly every corner.

• Our drugged-up ATV guide to the mountains lost it and threatened to kill us.
• My colleague came up missing for over 20 minutes at Ras Mohamed while snorkeling.
• I got extremely ill minutes before we were to get on the 8 hour bus ride back to Cairo.

The moral to this story ... I probably should not have taken that trip in the first place. I should have sat still and took advantage of some authentic 'me time'. But despite my rash decision to travel over the long holiday, and despite all of the mishaps, nothing bad really happened and in the end 'everything was okay'. *sighs deeply*

It should be obvious what my lesson was/is... just because the trip came together: I found transportation and a place to stay at the last minute, doesn't mean that I should have jumped at the opportunity knowing that I was already stressed out. You know, there's a saying that sometimes you just have to 'be still'. Note to self: Do Better.