The Year of Trusting Less

Someone asked me about my new year's resolutions last night, and I said: start doing yoga for my body and my psyche; be more organized and tidy; trust less.

"What was that third one?"

"Trust less."

The last night I saw M, we were driving and got briefly turned around. He has an amazing sense of direction, and he said that he has to look at a map before he goes anywhere. Once he has the map in his head, he can find pretty much anything. But if he doesn't know where he's going beforehand, he's really uncomfortable.

I said, "Oh, I'm terrible at maps. I just go."

This is true. It irritates my father every time I call him lost in VA asking for directions. He always asks if I've looked at the map. Why would I pull over to look at the map when he can tell me where I'm going?

"What do you mean, you just go?"

"Well, I get the Mapquest directions. And then I start driving."

"And if you get lost?"

"Then I call my dad or ask people. People are nice."

"You just ask people? You just jump in your car and go, and hope for the best?"

So I told him the following story. Years ago, I was visiting friends in Chile. My Spanish wasn't very good, but enough to get around. These friends live in Santiago, which is an enormous city. I'd gone downtown, and was trying to find my way back to their house in the suburbs. I got on a bus that I thought would take me there.

I asked the driver, who said, "Oh, no! This isn't the bus you need! You need the X bus. But don't worry - we'll cross it shortly!"

When we saw the X bus, he started honking his horn wildly. Yelling and waving his arms. "HEY! PULL OVER! There's this gringa who needs to get on your bus! She needs to go to (whatever the name of the street was)!"

And so the guy pulled over, and the first driver and several passengers wished me well, and I got on the other bus, and the driver told me when we got to my street. And all was fine.

So I told M this story, as an example of how people around the world are good, and how I am reminded of this every time I travel.

"You know what I think? I think you're just lucky you've never gotten kidnapped."

I thought this was a cynical view of things. I repeated this story to my best friend. Who said, "Oh, Lis, I have to agree with him."

So in 2007, I will do yoga, I will be tidier, and I will trust less.