Life Lesson #16 - Remain tranquilo

Before I left for my trip to Maui, a friend (and seasoned traveler) told me that if I "remain tranquilo (chill), everything will be aight." Well, "Remain Tranquilo" sort of became my mantra shortly after the onset of my trip. Whenever I found myself in an anxious situation, I took a deep breath and told myself "remain tranquilo, stay tranquilo."

There were two phases to my jamiemoon. The first half I was a backpacker who stayed at a hostel. The second half, I was flashpacker staying at a B&B in a lovely town. Not surprisingly, "remain tranquilo" was used a lot more during phase 1.

Here are some of the times when I used the mantra, Remain tranquilo, to soothe myself:

• When the honeymooners sitting beside me on the airplane were all up on each other. At one point the girl even sat on the dude's lap - yes on the airplane! *Remain tranquilo*
• When I missed the free van ride to the hostel by like 40 seconds, I took a cab. The cab driver yelled at me for not going far enough (it was like 10 miles!) and told me that my hostel was in the ghetto and I was going to have a horrible experience. *Remain tranquilo*
• When I actually arrived to the hostel and saw that it was IN FACT in the ghetto. *Remain tranquilo*
• During my second night at the hostel a woman directly oustide my dorm window screeched a blood curdling scream as if she were getting attacked (I hope she's okay). *Remain tranquilo*
• When I went outside to check on the girl who screamed, I eerily saw no one around. *Remain tranquilo*
• When the hostel owner told us that last week a girl backpacker went missing and that they recently saw a dead body in Lahaina. *Remain tranquilo*
  
• When my Danish roommates joked for the 10th time that they were stalking me. Crap, are they really stalking me? *Remain tranquilo*
• When I went to get some dinner from the ghetto's gas station and a scary (Fazil-esque) Hawaiian warrior stared at me and followed me down the street. *Remain tranquilo*
• When I almost fell off the side of a mountain at 7,000 feet because I was so dizzy. *Remain tranquilo*
• When my roommates told me about the inordinate amount of shark attacks that has occurred recently in Maui. *Remain tranquilo*
  
• When I almost drove off the side of a cliff on The Road to Hana because I was trying to email the food editor from The New Times about the SnG. *Remain tranquilo*
• When I met a cute boy who I enjoyed talking to and later realized he was 17. YIKES! *Remain tranquilo*

Positive self talk really works and having a little mantra can decrease one's anxiety by at least 25%. It helped me turn somewhat uneasy events into relatively neutral ones. Thanks to remaining tranquilo, I am having an awesome time. I recommend this mantra to other travelers.