Not a Problem

I've learnt a new word in Indonesian this week - 'tidak apa apa' which means not a problem or as the Australians say 'no worries'. The Balinese way of life seems to be very much this way inclined, nothing is a problem. As I get used to the length of time it takes to get things done, the traffic congested roads, words lost in translation between me and the Balinese and discovering the unexpected, I'm starting to realise that it's not a problem.

Sometimes we can get so caught up with having things the way we want them to be, doing things as and when we want to, we take things for granted. As soon as things don't go the way we want them to go, we can get very upset, frustrated and stressed. We get so caught up with these seemingly 'big' problems that we forget to appreciate what we do have.

A young Balinese 20 year old man recently told me "In the West time is money. In Bali time is life."

Nothing has to be a problem, unless we let it be this way. To live life is to be in the present, rather than worrying about what happened in the past or may happen in the future, enjoy the now and know that all problems whether big or small will pass. We all have the resources to overcome any problem.

 Tidak apa apa!