Have you ever wondered to yourself 'What next?' After a succession of events, you wonder what else could possibly happen? This is certainly how I felt when we had a succession of snakes arrive at our villa. The more we focused on them lurking around in our territory, the more they arrived en masse, which is inevitable when I was almost stalking them. There's a saying that attention goes where energy flows. No wonder I couldn't help but think to myself 'whatever next?'! Surely this was the ultimatum and nothing worse could happen? There's no chance of the Bali tiger popping in as it is now extinct (apparently it wasn't people but the snakes who made them extinct. The snakes frightened the baby tigers so much that the mothers stopped having babies). I was hoping that now I can live alongside snakes (at a distance and as long as I don't find one in my bedroom, like the time I found vermin droppings and urine stains in my bed while I had been away for a few days), this would be the end to all shocks, worries and surprises in Bali.
More recently while staying in Singapore, my temporary escape to city life made me feel protected by hiding in my ivory office tower which is 10 floors above any wild life that lurks around at ground level, so I didn't need to worry about what was happening in Bali. I could simply shrug off all responsibility and if a snake or any other strange creature of the tropics appeared at our Bali home, in my absence, it wasn't my problem. Well I was wrong. Another problem or for want of a better word 'challenge' emerged in Bali, one which I wasn't expecting and I couldn't shrug off all responsibility, simply because I wasn't there . So another life lesson for me. My Bali life could still catch up with me in Singapore.
I expect you're wondering what this challenge was? It all started with a frantic email sent by our team assistant in Bali. It was marked as urgent and said 'Cream missing'. Cream is our Bali dog. We adopted her as a puppy and she has been with us since the start of our new adventure in Bali. While we were enjoying the New Year's celebrations in Singapore, Cream had gone missing. We have two Bali dogs and they were both afraid of the New Year's Eve fireworks that noisily cracked and exploded in the neigbourhood. It transpired that on this same evening, two cows had gone missing in the neighbouring field and some stray Bali dogs that usually 'hung around' the local neighbourhood had also disappeared.
It felt like an Indonesian version of Cruella De Vil had kidnapped our dog, two cows and some other local, street roaming Bali dogs. I thought of our well-fed, fat, posh Bali dog mixing with the male 'tramp' dogs or ruffians as my Mum used to refer to and years later, I can now understand her concerns about who I mixed with! My mind wandered all over the place about what could have happened to her. I read between the lines and interpreted our assistant's message as it was all over. This is Indonesia, someone had stolen our dog and she wasn't coming back. We had to prepare ourselves for the worst. My mind wandered further. Knowing that dog is eaten in Bali and our Cream was as fat as a pot-bellied pig, she would make a wonderful meal. I couldn't take it any longer and decided that we couldn't sit back and accept her destiny, like a jury's verdict that hadn't listened to a fair hearing. We had ways, means and resources to do something about it. I asked our assistant to talk to everybody in the neigbourhood, to contact our local Banjar (they are like the local mafia, they have eyes and ears open everywhere, have a strong say about their village / neighbourhood and will help protect you, provided you pay into their fund), the dog rescue centres, the vets and to display posters with a reward.
As the days went by and my angst increased, I started to assume the worst. My 10 year old daughter quite rightly told me not to be 'negative' and that she would turn up. This simple and straightforward comment reframed my thinking and quickly put me in a positive state of mind. Sometimes being an adult can get in the way of us remaining positive. Young children have a wonderful innocence and lack of preconceptions, that can get in the way of adults thinking the best. On the fifth day, my 10 year old daughter informed us that she had dreamt Cream had returned and I thought to myself 'I wish it could be that easy.' At precisely 6pm that day, after I had dropped off my daughters for a sleep-over with some good friends and jumped in a taxi, I noticed a text from Bali on my phone. Our assistant was pleased to inform me that Cream had returned all on her own. She was dirty but healthy. I happily shared the good news with my taxi driver, who reciprocated my happiness with a furrowed brow as if he were a little perplexed why I was so ecstatic about a dog. I called my friend and could hear my children leaping with joy at the good news. I phoned and sent texts to all the people I had told about my misfortune which was quite a few people. What a relief! As they say, all is well that ends well.
The next day after months of abstinence from the gym and with no children around in the morning, I decided to attempt my walk/jog on the treadmill. As I listened to my IPOD, all the songs reminded me of my early morning walk/jogs in Bali with our two dogs. It just wouldn't have been the same going out with our one dog. It would have been like having lost a leg. There would have been no verbal obscenities as I attempted to get our wildly excited and bouncing dogs under control on their leads. There would have been no tangling up of leads and bodies, as if we were playing a game of 'twister' on the narrow rice paddy lanes. There would have been no two dogs crossing over and causing total mayhem as something sparked their interest on the other side and no tripping me up in the process as I dodged the pot holes. How dull that would have been!
I couldn't stop smiling on the treadmill and it reminded me how good it is to get out, do some exercise and get active, rather than let things spiral down into a dark, lethargic 'thinking the worst state'. The life lessons I learned were to stay positive, keep moving forward and think the best outcome, rather than let our adult experiences and preconceptions influence us to think the worst. There's an English proverb that says:-
"Worrying is like sitting in a rocking chair. It gives you something to do but it doesn't get you anywhere."
I spent far too many days sitting on that rocking chair, worrying about the fate of our dog. Luckily, I had a happy ending to get me off it. Even if the prospects don't look good or the ending isn't what you wanted, get off that rocking chair, think positive and enjoy the now, rather than worry about what next.
On this blog, I've included the song that played on my IPOD that made me smile on the morning when I returned to the treadmill. The words 'The best in life is free' resonated with me. Enjoy your special moments, memories and remember to think the best about what could possibly happen next.
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