Taking a Trip to the Other Side of Stability

I ran into a friend of mine in my neighbourhood about a week before I left for Europe. Interestingly, I often attract this friend when my mind is in a fit of turmoil. On this particular morning I wondered how I was going to navigate this blog while I am on holidays. After all, my blog is supposed to give its readers some interesting naturopathic information in a fun and informative way. A colleague of mine suggested I push forward with the blog more than ever and throw myself into research, construct informative stories and come home with a sense of accomplishment. This was precisely my turmoil: how does one holiday while completely consumed by work?!

Meeting my friend on that particular morning led to discussing said issue. Barry politely responded in his very free-spirited, artistically inspired way:

"Well (dramatic pause) .. it seems to me that you have a dilemma: you're an over-worked individual who wants desperately to be on holidays but has a sense of obligation to what you're trying to create. I think that you should create a European segment of your blog that talks to the importance of taking holidays and completely shutting off"!!

It had exciting potential .. but where has this advice exactly led to while I've been away? As is obvious to all of you, I haven't exactly been devoting all (or any) of my time to the blog! This does not necessarily indicate, however, that my holiday thus far has been day upon day of relaxation!

Today my world began to unravel. First, my PIN number on my VISA has been blocked. This is a situation, according to VISA, that cannot be rectified from abroad so I am currently without the security of credit - a security that I could really use while spending a month in Europe!! Second, I was informed that the train I booked to France for my bicycle tour through the Alps will not allow me to travel with a bicycle! So, how exactly, am I going to RIDE up mountains?! Third, the aforementioned, 200 Euro train ticket was not refundable and mailing my bike was priced at 1800 Euro .. and since I do not have a functional VISA, I could not pay that even if I wanted to!!

The experience today reminded me all too much of the chaos I live back home. In the moments of absolute frustration, I dawned on me that even though I am not working like a crazy woman, I am still living the chaos that I am desperately trying to take a break from!

So .. before I head off to bed, let me tell you how this story resolves. First, I am still VISAless, however, VISA has agreed to send another chipless VISA to my France address so I will have it next week. I was able to purchase another train ticket for tomorrow so I will arrive in time to ride on Sunday. This train has 4 more transfers than the other and will take 15 hours instead of 6.5, BUT I will have my bike!! The non refundable ticket was in fact refunded in full because the travel agent felt so bad about `our stupid, Dutch rules`!!

There you have it .. my unraveling is beginning to ravel up again. Things in my world are slowly coming back together after a day of challenge. Now, instead of continuing my pattern of inviting chaos, I hope to settle into the nice, steady pace required when climbing a mountain on the bike!