After having to wear someone else’s underwear for three days, I learned two important lessons-
1. People are generous, kind, and helpful
2. I can always adapt and control my perspective
I was flying to Milan on my way to Cheneil, Italy for a yoga and hiking retreat with one of my favorite yoga instructors and mentor. We arrived late into Frankfurt and I was quite impressed with how the airport staff had a special transport waiting for those of us with tight connections. I made my flight to Milan without any issues.
Once in Milan, I passed through immigration and awaited my luggage at the baggage claim area. And waited. And waited. As the baggage carousel turned and rotated and less and less bags made their way from the bowels of the airport, the sickening feeling in my stomach arrived. My bags didn’t make it.
I was by myself with no phone and the people I was to meet were outside customs. So I tried to breathe. I was going on a yoga retreat after all. I began the laborious process with the lost baggage counter. It took ages.
Somehow, I was able to communicate through the airport staff the status of my dilemma to my party outside customs. Then, I continued to wait while the staff tracked my bag.
“Ah, yes! We’ve found it!” the kind, tired looking gentleman exclaimed to me. “It will arrive in three hours.” Ugh. Normally, I would’ve waited, but my transportation included seven other people who had already been waiting all day for this van and then another two hours while I dealt with the luggage situation. I could not ask them to wait another three hours.
“It is okay,” the kind man reassures me. “We can deliver your bag to you by Tuesday because Monday is a holiday.” My heart sank. It was Saturday afternoon. My inner toddler screamed to herself “I really, really, really, want my bag!!!” The adult me said “okay” dejectedly and gave them the address. I put on a brave face, held back the tears that so wanted to burst the dam and made my way to my group.
All the other people going on this yoga retreat were extremely positive, patient, and empathetic. They did not make me feel like I had inconvenienced them in any way. One woman declared to me “I kept thinking — this woman really needed to lose her bags.” Leave it to a yogi to observe from a distance without judgment the possible lesson in this mess. I later had a chance to reflect on that statement.
I took in the beautiful vistas as we made our way into the Italian Alps and tried to forget the chaos of the day. We finally arrived and I have next to nothing appropriate for hiking. I have a rain jacket, my toiletries, the clothes on my back, and tennis shoes. I hadn’t yet at this point in my travels taken to religiously packing extra clothes in my carry on bag.
I had to borrow everything for the next three days. Talk about letting go!
Something about wearing another woman’s underwear helped me put things in perspective.
So many situations and outcomes that I had been trying to control - work, family, everything in my life had required way too much of my personal energy. I had been paddling vigorously up the stream of life and getting nowhere except the insufferable place of frustration. It just wasn’t sustainable and I was burnt out physically and emotionally.
The mental and emotional baggage of trying to control everyone and everything around me had taken its toll. I needed the physical situation of my physical baggage not arriving to see and feel how much I’d been struggling.
What happens if we just let go of trying to control everything external to us?
I let go on that trip and allowed people to help me. I had soggy shoes, wore someone else’s clothes AND I hiked the alpine meadows, breathed in the crisp mountain air, drank the incredible Italian wine, practiced yoga daily, and enjoyed the company of fellow travelers whose compassion, kindness, and generous spirit supported me as I healed and released negative energy.
I let go of that which I could not control and that which did not serve me.
Then of course, my luggage arrived. All in one piece, everything intact. All was well. I just had to let go.
~Benefsheh