Greetings from inside the Arctic Circle! Mr K and I have been digital nomads working at minus 15 this week, as we have spent an incredible few days in northern Finland. I’ll be sharing some of our experiences over the next couple of weeks, but first wanted to share a major lesson we have learnt on this trip.
I nearly didn’t book the tickets because I was worried about taking our daughter with us when she is still just a toddler. What if she screamed on every flight? What if she hated the cold? Or even worse, what if she was ill? But then I reasoned that they have toddlers in Finland too, and as long as we were well prepared with thermals and skiwear she’d be fine. So I stocked up on warm clothes and Calpol, and hoped for the best.
And guess what? She was a great little traveller on the flights, waving at everyone as they got on the plane like an air hostess in training. She coped with the weather brilliantly, proud of her new snow boots, and fascinated by the white world around her.
But then disaster struck and our worst case scenario came true – poor Sienna fell ill with chicken pox. Of all the places in the world to come out in a raging rash. We were a 100km round trip from the nearest hospital, and really worried about her.
But despite chicken pox being a horrible thing for any child to go through, she was a real little trooper and tried to keep smiling as much as she could. And our trip to the hospital enabled us to appreciate the hospitality and kindness of the locals – something we might not have known in the same way had we just gone about our adventure without this happening.
Sienna’s rash got so bad that we weren’t allowed to get on the plane back, so had to cut short our time in Helsinki and stay longer in the deep north. But even that wasn’t so bad – it’s an incredibly beautiful, restful place, with snowy forests and big starry skies, so I can think of worse places to be stuck. I also feel like I learnt so much about my little girl this week, seeing her at her worst and even then seeing how cheerful and funny she tried to be. I love her so very much.
So the big lesson from this experience? Well apart from travelling to places within easier reach of a hospital next time… we saw real parallels with how fear affects our behaviour in day-to-day life. One of the main ways I deal with things that scare me is to imagine the worst case scenario, and decide if I can handle it if that happens. Then I consider the best case scenario, and focus on what that would feel like. In this case, our worst case scenario came true, but we still had an incredible time, and I am still glad I booked the trip.
After all, Sienna picked up chicken pox from nursery the day before we left, and could have got sick anywhere. If you spend your whole life putting things off just in case the worst happens, something worse actually happens – you never do anything. What a way to learn a lesson this week!
I’ll be back next Monday with a special little video I made for you deep in the snow, but until then…
This week we’d like to challenge you to think about something you have wanted to do for ages, but haven’t yet gone ahead and done. Identify what fear is stopping you, pin down the worst case scenario and make a plan for dealing with it. Then focus on the best case scenario and imagine how it will feel if that comes true. And then, you guessed it, go for it!
With snowy love from the Arctic Circle,
Beth and Mr K (have Calpol, will travel)
