Picture this:
Your sitting outside of a cafe waiting for a friend. It's late. You have an abnormally early curfew looming over your head. It's your friend's birthday. Your phone unexpectantly died and have no way to contact your host mom to get it extended. You're getting lots of creepy looks, making you more aware of the fact that you're alone at night in India. You had just spent about an hour trying to find a freaking public toilet that day. And on top of that multiple due date are ever present in your mind.
You can't help but think "It can't get much worse."
But just then you look across the street and see a ragged, dirty man seeking shelter for the night under the awning of a closed shop. This is a pretty common sight in India. I suddenly felt extremely stupid and full of myself for getting upset over something as silly as a phone (which believe it or not has somehow caused me a lot of stress here) when there are SO many people in Pune who have to deal with extreme poverty and poor living conditions.
Being at the grimy bottom of such an awful infrastructure and dealing with social stigma makes dealing with plans almost falling apart seem like such wonderful problems to have.
Definitely one of the major things I've learned thus far is how to put your problems into perspective. So-called "first world problems" aren't going to be the end of the world. In fact, you have the power to change it. People find creative adjustments, or at least coping mechanisms, to problems you cannot even being to comprehend.
If people have the power to do that for actual problems, then I can do it for my "first world problems." And I did. I managed my small problems with the help of some patience and some friends, something I think we all can use in putting life and our problems into a larger perspective.
Your sitting outside of a cafe waiting for a friend. It's late. You have an abnormally early curfew looming over your head. It's your friend's birthday. Your phone unexpectantly died and have no way to contact your host mom to get it extended. You're getting lots of creepy looks, making you more aware of the fact that you're alone at night in India. You had just spent about an hour trying to find a freaking public toilet that day. And on top of that multiple due date are ever present in your mind.
You can't help but think "It can't get much worse."
But just then you look across the street and see a ragged, dirty man seeking shelter for the night under the awning of a closed shop. This is a pretty common sight in India. I suddenly felt extremely stupid and full of myself for getting upset over something as silly as a phone (which believe it or not has somehow caused me a lot of stress here) when there are SO many people in Pune who have to deal with extreme poverty and poor living conditions.
Being at the grimy bottom of such an awful infrastructure and dealing with social stigma makes dealing with plans almost falling apart seem like such wonderful problems to have.
Definitely one of the major things I've learned thus far is how to put your problems into perspective. So-called "first world problems" aren't going to be the end of the world. In fact, you have the power to change it. People find creative adjustments, or at least coping mechanisms, to problems you cannot even being to comprehend.
If people have the power to do that for actual problems, then I can do it for my "first world problems." And I did. I managed my small problems with the help of some patience and some friends, something I think we all can use in putting life and our problems into a larger perspective.
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