Costa Rica Cost Of Living Update: Gallon of super gasoline $4.47
People often ask me if I am bored and I never know how to answer this question. When I was working ten hour days I would have welcomed boredom. I would even have invited him into my house and made him a cup of tea. I was that anxious to have a moment that did not include a mound of paperwork or irritating phone calls.
Someone just asked me this question while at the Caribbean side of Costa Rica. There I sat, watching the ocean churn and the palm trees sway in the breeze when someone asked, “Aren’t you bored?”
I’m not sure boredom was the word she was looking for since it’s easy to make the simple things in life more complicated. It turns out that appreciating the present moment is not boredom but gratitude. And a life of gratitude feels great no matter where you live.
Later that day I watched a baby sloth climb back up a tree, ocassionally reaching out his arm as if I was his mother. It’s a memory that will always stay with me.
It was a good day. And there were no irritating phone calls to answer.
Nadine, I am happy to say I know exactly how you feel. For a journalist’s assignment I lived on Andros Island, Bahamas (It’s the largest island in the Bahamas) in a little remote village called Mangrove Cay. Before my plane touched down in Nassau to take the weekly mail boat to Mangrove Cay, I had wondered if I would be bored. I had no idea! After a week in the quiet of paradise, I was just sitting on the sand looking out to sea when I heard a noise and ran for the hut. It was only a coconut that had fallen from a leaning palm tree but from then on I knew there was a quiet and peace inside me, too. Isn’t it wonderful to see beauty all around you! I like your style of writing and I applaud you.
Thank you Joyce. It’s a amazing to go through lifestyle withdrawal. To once again become engaged to the moment you are in, the ocean your watching in front of you. To let those demands inside your head be still.
It doesn’t come easy, but once you get there you never want to give that peace and stillness back.
I sometimes confuse boredom with the mundane. It’s not that I’m bored, just tired of the same ole routines day in and day out.
I know what you mean. Sometimes the same thing, day after day, makes you crave for something new. One of the reasons why I moved.
I can’t imagine how it must feel to have all the time in the world to enjoy & appreciate the moment. Somehow, you and your husband have made that happen and I envy you. Any updates on publication of your book? Can I rag on any publishers on your behalf?
You are awesome. I am sending out my query letter filled with dazzling prose and my unquenchable wit and humor. Surely it’s just a matter of time before I get published and do a reading at Columbia University.
Ok, my head is in the clouds a little, but I keep repeating that like a Hari Krishna mantra. I’ll even get a tamborine and cruise the airport if it helps me get published. (not shaving my head though… I’m not a good lookin bald gal).
In the meantime I will eat pineapples, so some yoga, and plan my next adventure.
Hi (I don’t know your name)
I’m flying to CR next month to check out some areas. Thanks for recommending Antenas on HP; I’ve been checking into it online and see that it’s popular with expats.
I subscribe to another CR blogger, welovecostarica.com…lots of info there.
I like your blogs too!
Thanks for reading, check out Grecia and San Ramon too. I’m sure you will find an area you’ll love.
And apparently my writing definitely needs help. Ha, I just spelled ‘write’ as ‘right’.
Your blog gives me a taste of what life can be life. I am trying to find a way.
Ah, nice. I welcome boredom. As a kid you don’t value boredom, but as you get older it sure becomes bliss. I have so much I want to do that I don’t think I’ll ever be bored. There are so many things I want to try, so many books I want to read, so many workouts I want to try out and so many articles I want to just sit and right. Not to mention so many people I’d rather be spending time with as opposed to slaving away at my cubical. Ah, I wish I was bored.
You are absolutely right. I couldn’t have said it any better.