Building Up Resilience

You know, I live a really comfortable life in New York. I’m so aware of this privilege - from my spacious home to my stocked fridge to the gas fireplace that lights with a switch (Gross! But also so convenient!). Our life is embarrassingly easy. I’m forever looking for ways to introduce a little (just a little) discomfort into our everyday, which is probably why I love camping so much. Sleeping in a tent for a few nights requires you to set up and pack out everything without leaving evidence of your stay. A real hassle and yet so rewarding. 

I worry about raising kids with this kind of comfort. Who knows what the future brings…it feels important that they learn to manage and feel capable even without the easy life they know in NY. 

As we travel, nothing makes me happier than seeing them build this muscle, a resilience in the face of challenges big and small. We spent the last 2 days traveling from Japan to India, which included 2 trains to the airport with 4 suitcases, overcoming some hassles and stressful delays with the airline regarding our visas, 2 nighttime flights, a layover at 2am, and then 4 hour drive to get to Agra at 6am so we could visit the Taj Mahal during our short stop in Delhi. Oof we were all exhausted. And yet the boys slept on the plane and in the car, and withstood the 97 degree heat in Agra, loving the tour of this spectacular mausoleum (our guide Jimmy called the Taj “a poem in marble, which took 22 years to write and 20 thousand people wrote it just for the woman he was in love with, his wife.”)

We are 100% still living a life of comfort and privilege, traveling in an air conditioned car and sleeping in a soft bed at night. But in small ways, I’m watching them learn to adapt to travel stresses and appreciate these comforts. It’s rewarding.