(This should be read while listening to The Killers track of the same name – see below.) My defining memory of this song is listening to it on an overnight bus that took us from Brazil to Argentina. I had it on repeat as I looked out the window at the darkening landscape flashing past, worrying. We’d been staying in the ridiculously fabulous Hotel Das Cataratas on the edge of Iguassu Falls and were entering Argentina with very little money and no idea how long before we had to fly home with no plan.
No surprises why I found this song so reassuring. But it slips into my mind, often, whenever I find myself feeling worried or anxious about something that is largely out of my control. Like, oh, you know, Cape Town running out of water.
Or any number of other things, really. My dad told me as a (very worried) young child: Worrying is like a rocking horse – it keeps you busy but it doesn’t get you anywhere.
Good advice! Especially because, as we all know, everything will be all right. We may not be able to see how or when it will be all right, but it will be – in its own special way. And if it isn’t, well, worrying about the many ways it could potentially go wrong isn’t going to help.
I’m starting – very slowly – to see the long view in life. Just a little. There are moments where I can connect the life dots and see that what I thought was prompting me to do something was actually just a step on the journey, not the destination itself. I can’t be much clearer than that because I’m only beginning to figure it out myself, but I do think there are many aspects to life that we just can’t see from where we’re standing. And when they’re revealed, we’ll say: “Oh! So that’s why that happened.”
Like spending a few wonderful weeks in Argentina before flying home, penniless, to find the perfect flat (and borrow money for rent), get a great job, make wonderful friends, learn new skills, get married… All steps on the journey that got me here.
I wonder where the journey will take me next? Exciting!
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