Patience, Perspective, and Insignificance

by Srinivas Rao
on May 2nd, 2011
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The world is a pretty interesting place when you start to venture outside your own backyard. Once you unplug from your every day life you start to realized just how privileged the the lives we lead are. In my first glimpse into the life of a digital nomad I mentioned just how difficult adjusting to life in a new country can be, but it was all about my problems and issues. Saturday morning I woke up eager to hit the beach for an early surf session and found that that ATV I’m renting wouldn’t start again. I almost launched into a series of four letter expletives, but for some reason this time it didn’t have the annoying impact it did before. I realized that this was just part of life here in Costa Rica. So I walked down to the mechanic and asked him if he could come see what was wrong and he said sure. The funniest thing about the whole experience is that the guy had been letting me struggle in my broken Spanish even though he spoke English, just so I would learn faster.

Patience

If you ask my parent’s they will tell you that I have absolutely no patience and as much I as hate to admit it, they’re right. When the computer doesn’t start up fast enough I get annoyed. When a web site takes forever to load I get antsy. When I’m sitting in the ocean and the next wave seems like it’s taking forever to show up, I find myself in a conversation with the surfer next to me about the ridiculously long wait between sets (fortunately a non-issue here in Costa Rica). If there’s one thing dealing with the daily adventure here in Costa Rica is teaching me it’s patience. Every single day is an unknown that could involve cars breaking down, power outrages and more. Eventually you just learn to roll with the punches.

Perspective

After realizing that my plan to surf that morning was a no-go, I had my neighbor Doug call the other mechanic that I’m renting the 4 wheeler from and he said he’d come by the next day to fix it. Needless to say I was a bit irked by the idea of spending the next 24 hours waveless. As we went for a drive, I realized I really had to put things in perspective. It turned out the woman who cleans the condos where I’m living walks 13 kilometers for some jobs that pay about two dollars an hour. I should also mention that it gets HOT here after about 8 in the morning. So when you consider that, the issues with the ATV seem pretty trivial. It sounds crazy but all the issues we have are a symbol of just how privileged of a life most of us lead.

Insignificance

I’ve looked at my life in the last year as a constant battle to solve a series of problems and been caught up in this idea that when all these problems are solved, then life will be perfect:

Make More Money
Fall in Love/Date Somebody
There’s too much traffic in LA
The line is too long at Starbucks

But when you consider how the other half lives (not the rich and famous, but the poor and average), all our problems become pretty insignificant. If you’re spending a fortune dealing with your issues, I’m not trying to knock you. But give some consideration to the fact that YOU CAN AFFORD to throw money at all your issues.

You’d be amazed at how a little bit of time abroad will shift your perspective. So next time you start to look at all the problems in your life, do a quick comparison of the people in throughout the world who don’t even have enough money to have the kinds of problems you have. Who knows? Maybe all your problems will lose their significance, and along with that their impact on your life.

Srinivas Rao

Srinivas is an avid surfer and personal development blogger at The Skool of Life. He's also the host and co-founder of BlogcastFM, a podcast for bloggers.