Dhaka Day 9-10
Meeting wonderful new friends every day. Amazing joys amidst the trials...
Mindset is Key to Self Management
Being here in Dhaka, Bangladesh, has been challenging for my body, with the heat and my very upset tummy, along with the 3x 30-person daily workshop facilitation schedule - where we are inspiring who mindset shifts and questioning of life practices - not simple. To get through this time of challenges and actually enjoy the new experiences, has taken some real mindset awareness and ownership. I've had lots of practice taking responsibility for how my thoughts create my feelings and influence my actions, which then ripple back to impacting my thoughts. I could have decided "I can't do this" and created such a pitiful victim experience that WSDA NZ would have felt compelled to send me home early. I could have held onto a sense of "This is not a place I want to be" and then I would have found plenty of evidence to support this decision - as we always can, no matter what is going on in our lives. I chose to go with "Wow, this is tough, I'm doing so great with help from so many amazing people. What stories I will have to share when I return home." And so it has been.
Along with mindset management for my thoughts, it's also been crucial to notice, recognise and respond to what my body is needing. When I am going into a state of stress response, what can I do? First is to notice this is happening, as early as possible, and without any judgement. Second is to KNOW that this is a normal reaction my body has to things I am not used to AND I can do something about this. Thirdly is to BREATHE, and practice PRA: Present, Relaxed, Allowing all emotions. The BREATHE some more. Then I can think more clearly about what else my body may be needing to calm, reset and take healthy steps.
NB: In my first round of creating this post I chose to self manage by going to bed as I felt extremely tired and wrung out. Rather than forcing myself to complete this blog I chose to take some rest. (This plan to complete this post later would have worked better had I not then encountered several days of patchy internet and long, intense days.) Anyway, here are we again now, reviewing days 9 & 10 a week on...
Simple Case Study in Awareness & Problem Solving
I've just gone for my shower, toilet & teeth to the communal bathroom, 20m or so from my bedroom through communal area. These are things that I am needing to consider in addition to my usual experience of bedtime routines, on this nightly journey, while here:
- Who may be out there when I open my door?
- What clothing do I need to put on? Minimum is my nightie. Maybe I also need to put on leggings and ensure my chest shape can't be seen...
- What may I need to say to them? Perhaps "Assalamualaikum" or "Hallo" or hand on heart with smile or just a nod...
- Have I got my towel, soap, clip for hair, toothbrush & paste, bottled water to do teeth with?
- Put on jandals outside bathroom door
- Look for cockroaches (they are often hanging out in the door jam in the middle of the night - this I discovered during my "night of horrors")
- Choose shower - one seems to not have a light but the water flows down the drain faster rather than pooling, the other has a larger soap storage area but I'm standing in a large puddle over the base of my jandals by the end of the shower..
- Keep mouth closed while showering (and right now keep right hand pointer finger out of shower as it's got an infected cut - doh! I forgot that tonight - now need to consider whether I re-alcohol-swab and re-cream&bandage it, or simply hope for the best - Inshaa Allah)
- After shower either stand in wet jandals or step out of them onto very slipper floor. How many times does it take to dry my feet when I keep putting them back into the jandals again??
- Remember to grab soap back and carefully slip back into the cardboard box that's getting more and dicey
- How much to dress and wrap up again for "running the gauntlet" back to my room? But first...
- When brushing teeth remember to use the bottled water I brought (NOT the tap water!). For both the first brush and the rinse. And even to clean the toothbrush. A couple of times I've forgotten to bring the bottled water, so I've instead built up as much saliva as possible in my mouth, used that to lubricate the brushing, used the tap to clean the sink and some paper towels to clean my toothbrush. Several times I've (on auto-pilot) reached for the tap and stopped myself just in time!
- Take jandals off and ensure they're not blocking access to the women's bathroom
- Hand-sanitise once I get back to my room - as the tap water is from an open air rainwater tank on the rooftop, so let's not be giving too much trust to the cleanliness of my hands...
So much happens on auto-pilot that we take for granted. No wonder I'm so tired on this stay here. There is so much that I'm needing to think about and take double or treble effort to enact compared to what I would at home. Add to that the heat, the sickness, the gruelling schedule, socially, linguistically & professionally intense work I'm doing ... yeah OK, makes sense.
Check out section below for why this picture is of interest to me...
My original play hearts
Who has stolen whose heart? Who is infatuated? Or who, like me, simply likes to play?
Invisible Friends & Dreams
On the first morning I arrived I'd finished my breakfast early and was awaiting my ride to the East-West University Youth Summit with WSDA NZ. I looked at the green pinboard and felt inspired to play. Someone had arranged the pins in a heart shape. I added some other pins around it to accentuate the heart. (see photo to left)
This afternoon I returned from a full on day of training - working with 3 groups of 30 people in each - and I looked up from my meagre dinner (still on plain foods due to my upset tummy) and saw this lovely design (above) - Cupid's arrow.
Who has stolen whose heart? Who is infatuated? Or who, like me, simply likes to play?
From My Notebook
- If Ahmed invites me to return to Bangladesh in April-June another time I intend to politely and firmly decline!
- Early morning on 10th day I woke at 4am (as I have been, with the beautiful "calls to prayer" and fair amount of light). I thought perhaps I could go and see the sunrise from the roof. Sadly I got to the doors before the lift and realised if I went out, I'd be locked out (much like I was out of my room a few days later - doh!). So I sadly trudged back to my room after asserting that I couldn't see the sunrise from anywhere accessible on this floor. Ah, pity.
- I'm feeling pleased with myself that I'd thought of many extra tidbits that have made my life easier here. I had a finger cut that was looking pretty mucky and weepy and minorly infected. I whipped out the mini first aid kit and over a couple of days, sorted that finger cut out. Hurrah!
- I've also had two bottles of beautifully scented water and have been spraying this liberally during the times when I'm a bit over-hot. Which is often!
- Funny thing the other day: A random local man saw me and said "Good morning" to me. I responded with "Shuvo shokal". We both smiled, both happy with our own and the other's efforts.
Sarah Amy Glensor Best
kiaora@sarahamy.nz
+64 21 1174 899
© Copyright 2024 Sarah Amy Glensor Best | All Rights Reserved
Sarah Amy Glensor Best
kiaora@sarahamy.nz
+64 21 1174 899
© Copyright 2024 Sarah Amy Glensor Best | All Rights Reserved
