Are you wearing a straitjacket?

Sept 23, 2016 Mixay Paradise hotel, Vientiane, Laos

Last night was again an unpleasant one…

The one major gift that I inherited from my mother is the ability to sleep soundly at night. I don’t need the afternoon nap unless I have exercised too much or when I have nothing to do, because I sleep well at night. Whatever be the problems of the day, they disappear when my head hits the pillow. But, last night was not pleasant because the bed was uncomfortable and the air-conditioning was either too strong or we switched it off and I kept waking up every few hours or so.

The room that we are staying in ends before it starts. Krishnan had to step out of the room to take a picture!! Its about 8’X6′, packed with a bed, a dresser (!!), a mini fridge and a  TV. Very clean as all hotel rooms are in Laos. So will hand that to them. Very sweet staff at the reception, they were all smiles and efficient while getting us booked in but the room is the smallest we have stayed in ever.

This room brought back memories of 1995, when our business went under and we were struggling. We moved from a three bedroom 1800 sq ft house to a tiny, 600 sq ft house and ended up hosting a house guest even, who was a friend of a friend. If one of us was inside the kitchen, the others had to stay out. Terrible times and very stressful. Anyway, the business went under completely and many of you know the story of our return to green… but when we were under, there were a few decisions that we had taken. One was not to constrict ourselves ever – in a room or a situation. Both Krishnan and I have worked hard to give ourselves wriggle room, basically the financial security that ensures there is wriggle room. This hotel room offers no wriggle room. Its another gaffe in a series at Laos because of a three way communication that doesn’t seem to reach the right people at the right time.

We have booked ourselves into a different hotel for the other two nights that we are coming back to Vientiane. We did that early in the morning at 5 when we woke up. And guess what the costs are marginally different, at best $10 to $15 is the difference! Mixay Paradise is a backpackers delight and we are not backpackers, hence we aren’t even happy let alone be delighted.

Now, the learning is – change the circumstances to suit you, always. Give yourself wriggle room. The cost of giving yourself wriggle room is marginal mostly. Am not going to spend time talking about the communication bit – have done that several times. This time around, Krishnan and I have almost started to doubt our own ability to communicate, especially with the number of misses.

Life is about having fun and being comfortable and no one is comfortable in a straightjacket. Whether the straightjacket comes in the form of a job, a bad boss, a wonderful spouse :):), a loving parent, a demanding child, a tiny room, or a tasteless meal – refuse to don it. Define whats comfort for you and refuse to accept anything less. A few dollars less in your bank account will not bother you as much as living in a straightjacket. Got it ??

Now that Krishnan has come out of the bathroom, I will go in and take a bath, so he has some wriggle room in this shoebox for a few minutes.