I went to Jamaica a week before finals and before you ask me “how did you even sleep knowing your finals were less than a week away?” here’s how:
All in all, I didn’t think I’d be doing much else besides eating, drinking fruity drinks by the pool, and sleeping while I was there, but turns out, this trip was much needed for a variety of reasons! Something about me: I spend a lot of time in my head and my thoughts and always wanted to learn from every experience I go through, sooooo…
Here are my takeaways:
You ever wonder what it would’ve been like to grow up in a different country?
Being surrounded by a new environment? Being raised in a culture completely opposite of ours? I asked myself this question when I was being served a plate of sushi. (It was the first time I tried it, and I loved it, if you’re wondering.) But honestly, would I be more grateful, carefree, used to smaller portion sizes? Or maybe I’d be greedier, pessimistic, or uptight depending on the place? I will never know the answer, and that’s okay because I have an extraordinary family and an atmosphere that I’m truly lucky to call home. However, I still am fascinated by how different the perspectives between me and the Jamaican workers of the resort were, even though we are all human and all living on the same earth. These exact perspectives brought me to my next thought.
Gratitude
I, for one, will be the first to say I have taken my blessings for granted, especially after a trip so relaxing and careless. Oh, and WARM. But when taking the shuttle from the airport to the resort, I observed shacks and houses completely in shambles on both sides of the road. I, of course, felt kind of bratty at the time when a wave of humbleness came over me. I didn’t want to become a person who looks at how bad someone else has it and instantly realize how good my life was because something about that is cruel in my opinion, but I do admit I was taken aback for a second. I put myself in their shoes and thought about how I wouldn’t last a day in them. What really shocked me, though, was not the fact that they were living their lives in these kind of conditions, but they were happy and grateful in spite of it. I swear to you, the staff at the resort in which my family and I stayed were some of the sweetest people I have ever met. Being there I felt welcomed, safe, secure, and almost like a celebrity. I’ve worked in customer service and I can definitely say that everyone has a tipping point, but honestly, I don’t think Jamaicans do. No matter what, they were always willing to help and assist you in any way possible and I know that’s their job, but you’re telling me you’ve never been in a bitchy mood at your job and maybe let it show for half a second? Yea, I can’t say that either. It’s unreal how kind everyone was there, and most expected nothing in return. In fact, I felt awful when I didn’t have money on hand to tip whoever I was talking to. I’ve definitely realized on the trip that there is only so much space in our minds, and the things I was filling mine with were pointless stress and worries, when I could’ve been using that space for gratitude or like, I don’t know, material for my chemistry final I have to take next Monday.
Warmth can pretty much completely takes away the stress that comes from this time of year
Finals, Christmas, the New Year, I think it’d all be better if we were in a place where it was at least 70 degrees. As joyous as this time of year is, it’s honestly kind of hard to ignore the stress that comes around it. Finals is a stressful week for all of us in one way or another. Christmas nowadays is all about who’s getting who what for a gift, along with decorating and obviously blocking out time to BAKE COOKIES– seriously the most important thing. And New Years comes with the pressure to reinvent yourself with a resolution or lose the weight gained after too many sweets during the holiday season which usually fails by maybe the 24th of January at the latest. It’s almost like in Jamaica, though, I grew up so used to it being so cold and stressful around that time of year that having the weather actually nice kind of relieved that stress. It was funny because the resort put up Christmas decorations (a tree in the lobby, lights wrapped around palm trees, stockings hanging from garland swung across the pool area) and Christmas music played as Jamaican remixes, but it didn’t really feel like winter. I was kind of confused when I had to remind myself it’s literally December and I was being surrounded by humidity and 82 degree weather. It definitely relieved a lot of pressure from my whole family.
I’m so grateful for this trip and what better time than now to realize things like these. Try to remember all the love that surrounds these next weeks, and the stress seems to take care of itself. Happy holidays and happy new year!