I was all prepared this week to write a post about the importance of rest. R and I just arrived in the Dominican Republic yesterday for two weeks of rest and relaxation after not having taken a proper holiday together for over two years. We had booked into what appeared to be a beautiful resort where we thought the most difficult part of our day would be deciding what cocktail to drink by the beach. The reality over the past 24 hours has been quite different – loud music by the pool (which we can hear from our room), a crowded beach with boats going in and out for scuba and snorkelling trips, and – most cringe-inducing – nightly ‘entertainment’ in the hotel lobby that can be heard from seemingly everywhere (last night was a poor Michael Jackson impersonator followed by a DJ). Jet lagged, short on sleep, and just longing for some piece and quiet, I had a mini-breakdown last night.
The poem that sprang to mind this morning, as we worked through our options (do we cut the trip short altogether? Find a new hotel?) was this beautiful meditative piece by Thich Nhat Hanh, shared by my yoga teacher Norman Blair. I listened to it on repeat from one of Norman’s recorded classes and could feel my whole nervous system finally begin to relax. The past 24 hours has been a lesson to me that, no matter how much you plan, and no matter how many TripAdvisor reviews you read, life doesn’t always go the way you want it to. In those moments, rather than reacting from a place of anger or panic, take some time to breathe and re-center yourself, and remember that this moment will pass. Left to my own devices, I would have been on the next plane out of here, but R encouraged us both to breathe and consider our options. We spoke to the hotel, and we now have a new room, in a quieter part of the hotel, with private pool access and ‘butler service’ (someone who will make our dinner reservations, reserve beach chairs for us and bring us coolers full of water and champagne).
Fingers crossed for a good night’s sleep and a more restful week ahead.
