Have you named a word of the year? Years ago a dear friend of mine latched on to the idea of having a word of the year. I loved the idea. I get pensive at the turn of the year anyway. Thinking about ‘my word’, allows me to visualize intention. I have chosen a word ever since.
My word of the year is a simple yes. There is an air of mystery when we say yes to something not knowing where it will lead. It may lead to success or failure. Yet I say the biggest benefit we get from yes is WHILE we are saying yes.
While we are saying yes and venturing out to explore possibilities, it can draw us inward. It pushes us to embrace the fear of the unknown moment by moment.
One yes that has shaped me, was saying yes to summer in Himachal Pradesh. It wasn’t my first desire, but that yes lead to a summer of in-the-moment exploration…and quite likely my visiting 100 other countries down the road. 😉
The Dream
I grew up smack dab in the middle of the Andes, in Quito, Ecuador. This meant I loved being in the mountains from an early age. By the time I was in college, my family and I had moved to Indiana, and then on to Phoenix Arizona. Neither place had impressionistic mountains.
Post-college I applied to go with an organization to teach English in my DREAM destination—the mountains of Nepal.
Two weeks before leaving for Nepal, I was informed I was needed in India instead. The job description read like this: “Hazardous spiritual journey. No wages. Bitter heat. Nasty food. Long days. Long nights of limited sleep. Safe return hopeful, Giardia probable.”
The New Assignment
I wrestled with this new assignment. I had no desire to go to India. A cacophony of sounds, smells, and sweltering heat—yuck. I also felt compelled and intrigued. Instead of staying in one village for the summer, I would travel through remote villages. The goal was to map people groups–each with their own language, dress, customs, and gods. This was the ultimate” exploration quest”.
It was the summer after finishing my Electrical Engineering degree, before starting my job at a big tech company. I had just broken up with a boyfriend of two years. Feeling on the brink of big change, I was hoping this journey would reveal more of what I should pursue in the future.
I also felt the “itch of exploration”–the thrill of experiencing new cultures, people, and places. Maybe it is something in my blood. Or maybe this quest for exploring is in all of us.
Yes to Himachal Pradesh
Praying God would open my eyes to His purposes–I said yes. I was sent a backpacker’s packing list. It told me to cut the tags off my clothes to lighten the load. I packed as light as I could, but when I arrived in Delhi, I immediately made a pile of things to leave behind.
At our orientation week, I remember being jealous of those going to Nepal. I snuck out one morning for a walk. Five girls riding bikes with pink kurtas mesmerized me, while two peacocks with their tail feathers completely fanned danced and chanted in the morning mist. …perhaps India would be okay.
I didn’t know what to expect as we boarded our first bus to Himachal Pradesh. I had a tiny cube of space I shared with Jenn, my travel partner. It was not tall enough to sit up in, scarcely big enough for us to squeeze into. Adding our bags and the clothes with too much billowing material while crawling into this tiny box was a challenge. That was not the only challenge. It was a night ride with no lights. It was stuffy and incredibly hot. I wondered how I would survive the night, let alone the summer.
Nothing can explain the joy I felt twelve hours later when I looked out of the window to see the night sky with a slivered moon against the shadows of mountains. My joy only grew as the light gave way to taller mountains, rushing rivers, and snow-covered peaks. The air got chilly, and I had to put on my jacket as I stuck my head out of the window.
Not all Rainbows
In three months of traveling to little mountain villages, that bus with a sleep pod was the nicest bus we rode. An early trip was supposed to take ten hours–it took two days. I discovered the beauty of sitting on bus roofs where the air is freshest.
When a landslide was unpassable, we hiked over the mountain and caught a military truck. Two girls plopping themselves in a truck bed with a bunch of armed soldiers—we were fortunate that worked out safely!
The trip was clearly not all rainbows. Giardia was real and we were constantly nursing our bowels and stomachs. We often couldn’t get out of bed. I had an advantage over Jenn. I am lactose intolerant and will immediately throw up milk. Every time we were served chai, we would do a juggle. I would pretend, but Jenn was drinking all of it. I still feel bad that when we returned home, she had such bad tapeworms they had to be surgically removed.
We spent three months exploring and mapping remote Himalayan villages in India’s Himachal Pradesh. The landscapes were epic, and the variety of people, languages, dress, and customs were riveting.
By the time I ventured to Nepal later that summer, I found it just could not compare to the unspoiled Himalayan beauty we had seen in those three months. While it was just as hard as the job description made it sound, I was glad I had said yes.
What I Learned in Himachal
I kept a detailed journal of my time that summer. What could this ‘yes’ could mean for my future? I felt guilty I had never taken Mandarin after spending an earlier summer in China. Did that mean I should now go home and learn Hindi? Should go to theological seminary to better prepare? I prayed about meeting the guy I would marry. I wondered if I had any desire to return to the job waiting for me at the big tech company.
As an achievement-oriented Enneagram 3, I am still always searching to understand what one ‘yes’ might mean for the future and what achievement I should pursue next. Yet as I look back at these journals, I realize that looking for the next step is too nearsighted. It does not account for the benefits one will get from the adventures both in the moment and in the very long view.
No, I did not end up learning Hindi or changing my career path. I did end up eventually going to seminary and getting married, but that was still many years down the road. Mostly I found a closer relationship with God during that summer with its challenges and temporary struggles. I also enjoyed the power of freeform, unplanned, travel and adventure. That is the power of a yes for the moment.
I think ‘yes’ is like that—it draws us into the heart of God as we embrace the fear of the unknown in our moment by moment yes.
We are blessed, not necessarily because we said yes, but while we are saying yes.
What are you saying yes to?
Additional Resources
- Looking to visit Himachal Pradesh? Check out the official Himachal Tourism site as well as Lonely Planet’s Himachal Pradesh travel site.
- Looking for more stories and pictures in the Himalayas? Check out my post Travel with Dad: Adventures in the Bhutanese Himalaya
