Let It Be

It's been a year since we moved our family home to Bali while running our personal and professional development business, NoLimits, from Singapore. Our company philosophy is about 'no limits', infact there's even a pop song called NoLimit (I discovered this through a good friend after I had named the company, remember this?: 2 Unlimited NoLimit youtube) and there are no limits if you put your mind to it and you really want it. In the space of one year we have expanded our business to recruitment and I have seen my life change considerably by living in Bali. Although hair raising and as painful as extracting teeth at times, it has been an amazing experience for us. There have been ups and downs, satifsaction and dissatisfaction, frustration, fun, laughter and happiness all rolled into one.

You may be saying to yourself so what is the title to this blog about?  Why 'let it be'? I've been wondering to myself, now that a year has passed, how I would describe the biggest life lesson from all of this and the first words that came to mind were 'let it be', so intuitively I have decided to go with this title. I happened to be swimming laps in the pool at our villa at the time (if you can call it laps, I have to turn every two minutes as it's more of a plunge pool than lap pool) and I was reflecting on what has been happening over the last few days since my return from holidays in the UK (strange as it may sound, as I live in Bali I have to go on holiday somewhere). One of the bigger frustrations is that I waited a year for our container with our personal belongings from Singapore to arrive to discover a bizarre combination of my favourite black leather jacket, all my cookbooks and a couple of lampshades went missing! As my Bali friend Sarah said there's most probably somebody in Asia who is now sporting a black leather jacket, wearing a lampshade and pretending to be Jamie Oliver! I'm not bothered about the cookbooks or lampshades but I am mourning the fact that my black leather jacket and I have finally parted after all these years together.  My black leather jacket and I go back twenty years ago when I was living in London. It has followed me around Asia for the last ten years. Admittedly I haven't worn it for the last ten years because it's too darn hot but it has always faithfully waited in my wardrobe for that 'one day' when the opportunity would finally present itself. Maybe as in life, what's the point of holding onto things for one day ....... wherever my leather jacket has landed up, I hope it is appreciated and getting some good use now.

So as I swam my short lengths in the pool, turning around every two minutes like one of the Queen's guards pacing Buckingham Palace, I realised that it's all about letting it be. Sometimes we have to let go no matter how close or dear something may be, or how intense or principled we feel. It's best to accept and move on, when nothing can be done about it. As a man in India once politely instructed me, shrugging his shoulders and holding out his arms - I was frustrated I couldn't book an auto-rickshaw on a public holiday (Independence Day) - "This day is to celebrate when we were freed from you," he exclaimed, pointing his finger at me as if I had to take the blame for all the misdemeanours of my colonial forefathers, "and besides this is India." he sighed, as if to say 'you can't expect anything else.'. So I now have 'this is Bali.'  For all it's frustrations and inefficiencies it has a charm and character that I can't help but admire and a calmness that pervades. In the space of one year I have moved from trying to change things, the frustrating things that don't work out the way I want, to a state of accepting, doing what I can to mitigate and moving on with a smile. Life's lessons in Bali have taught me to be more adaptable, patient and to know when to let it be. 

As the words to the Beatles song says:-

"There will be an answer, let it be."
Let it be - youtube

What can you do to let it be and move on?

Janet

For more information about NoLimits personal and professional development, coaching and recruitment services, contact info@nolimitsasia.com +65 6232 2466