Holly (my wife) and I went on vacation to Vietnam, and she booked us a food tour in the city of Saigon.
We went with a company called “Back of the Bike.” They drive you on the back of a scooter to each location, and they share and explain the food that they like.
Before Saigon, we’d visited other cities, including Hanoi. Riding in a taxi, I’d witnessed many near misses as I watched cars, scooters, bicycles, and pedestrians. Chaos!
But that night in Saigon, zipping along on the scooter, the former chaos swirling around me transformed into something surprising.
No longer was I a mere observer of traffic, I saw chaos dissolve as a natural rhythm evolved. I went from being in a traffic trance and got swept up into a traffic dance.
My initial fear of getting into an accident went away. And I felt a quiet acceptance that my safety was not in my hands, so… I realized I had a choice.
I could worry about us getting hurt. Or I could choose to enjoy this dance and trust that I’d live to have dessert. So I chose to trust this driver I’d barely met, and simply enjoyed the ride.
With that said, there were a few times when a scooter driver would get very close. And if their hot exhaust pipe had touched, my leg would have been toast.
My letting go of the need for safety let me have a sense of freedom. Yes, I still cared whether I’d be safe. But I cared about my safety without being worried about it.
In my opinion, the ability to care about an outcome without worrying about the outcome, is one of the most valuable skills we can improve. I realized many years ago that caring without worrying was a crucial element to my own happiness.
And since age 27, I keep practicing, learning, and improving this skill, because there’s always room for improvement. And J-E-L-L-O. (A joke for those who remember that commercial…)
If you would like to improve the skill of caring about an outcome without worrying about it, then let’s talk. We can have an office consultation or have one during a walk.
Operators are not standing by, but my email and voicemail are open 24/7. Improving this skill can be the difference… between more hell or more heaven. And no, I don’t rhyme, all the time.