Things Usually Work Out in the End

My family came to visit me in Israel.  It is Friday night on February 15^th and I walk into the apartment that my parents rented for a few days in Tel Aviv.  They will be arriving the next day around 10:30 and the company gave us directions to enter the apartment so I decided to sleep there on Friday night because I could.  I open the door and try to turn on the lights but nothing works.  I was a little tipsy and tired from a night out so I just went to sleep and hoped for the best in the morning.  In the morning I checked my e-mail.  There is a long e-mail from my brother explaining how his passport was expired and he could not get on the plane but luckily his wife, Kris, went along without him and will be arriving later in the day.  Luckily, my parents arrived just fine and I told them the unfortunate news.  I told my dad who tends to get upset quickly, “don’t worry, this will all work out in the end.”  Kris’s flight gets delayed an hour so we have to wait about 7 hours for her to arrive.  Did I mention that it is Shabbat on Saturday and we cannot get in touch with the renting company until after Shabbat ends, about an hour after sunset?  Kris’s flight lands and we are waiting for her taxi to come.  One hour passes, she should be here soon, 1:30, okay maybe it took a little longer, 2 hours…we get an e-mail from her that she is next door.  I went downstairs but she is nowhere to be seen.  The cab driver dropped her off at the wrong address.  I was thinking this day couldn’t get any more stressful but now Kris is lost, we still have no power, and it is dark.  Finally, Kris arrives at the apartment (thank god she took Adam’s iPad) and we get in touch with the apartment company.  He moves us to a new apartment, an upgrade looking over the long stretch of beach with a huge window facing the sunset, and we go out to dinner at a place called Choco Lulu’s in the Florentine district that I have wanted to go to.  It was great and everyone enjoyed it.  Things tend to work out in the end if you stay calm and don’t let the bumps in the road get to you.  I have noticed this a lot in life.   

Right now, I think I am in a very good place in my life.  I have been living in Israel for 10 months teaching English…what do I need to worry about, right? Not entirely true.  What I am doing here sounds awesome and everyone should be grateful to experience what I am.  However, life here isn’t so easy.  Teaching can be stressful, Israel is expensive, the language is different and exhausting, and I have no idea what I am doing after this.  Don’t get me wrong I love it here but by the time my 10 months are up I will be more than ready to go home and probably completely broke.  Many people don’t like it at all here.  Many of the people on my program could care less about the teaching, learning the language, and would go home tomorrow if they didn’t have to pay to loose their grant money.  This is where my attitude sets me apart from many other people.  My positive outlook, and ability to stay calm when the shit hits the fan helps me get through the problems.  So some days I might have a bad day, but every new day should be something to look forward to and not dreaded.  A lot of the time when people tell me about their problems I tell them to sleep on it.  Then in the morning, or some time after, do something about it.  Don’t just complain to me, face your problem and take some action.

Over the past few years my dad has given me some good advice.  The two quotes that stand out are “be proactive” and “you will never get anything if you don’t ask for it.”  Proactive was the word of the year when I was a freshman in college.  Basically he was saying that I should step out of my comfort zone and take some chances, meet some new people, and try some new things.  Maybe I might like some of them.  The second quote also encourages me to take chances.  The worst that can happen is that someone will say no, right?

I have learned over the past few years that it is great to step out of my comfort zone, dare to question and ask, and just relax when things go wrong.  Things tend to work out in the end.

Now here is a cool video and words of wisdom from Allen Watts

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siu6JYqOZ0g