Monday 27 January 2014

Fighting the fears

One of the things people who are looking to go travelling will likely encounter at some stage or another are negative stories about the places they're about to visit from either friends or the media - no matter where in the world they're headed. As well as this, I've been facing a weekly cycle recently that probably ranges on the bi-polar: Sunday night/Monday morning I'm scared out of my wit and keep saying to myself 'do I really know what I'm getting myself and Claire into?', then come Thursday/Friday all I want to do the second I've finished work is pack my bags and jump on a plane and never look back!

Last night (a Sunday) I was full of excitement after the initial high of seeing the scenery of Vietnam in the program "coffee trail with Simon reeve" on BBC2, it looked beyond beautiful. However after a while, the program descended into a different view of Vietnam that certainly attempted to take some of the shine off my excitement of going. 

It doesn't take much at the moment to activate my apprehension as I'm under no illusions about the size of the life change we're going through and how much of the unknown we are heading into, but it made me think is this just typical scaremongering?


Don't get me wrong, I'm aware of the potential threats about living abroad in any country. But It's not like I'm walking into a hostile region, so as long as I keep myself to myself like I normally would then surely I'll be just as safe as I am back home right? I don't want to sound naive as I know Vietnam is still an emerging country in the shadow of a still relatively recent war, but I've heard way too many good things to put me off. 


Claire rightly pointed out to me that you could make any country look bad through the power of one TV program and it made me think that if you showed a foreigner looking to move to the UK a show on London's gun crime and Brits fighting in the street when drunk problem then they'd probably be scare-mongered too!


So there it is, I can't help that my fear will attack me again and again before my departure, but I know that is a natural process, especially as moving to any new country and culture is one of the scariest things you can ever do. I also remember that any place can be made to look bad, you just need to know where to avoid and like any country in the world - just stay out of trouble (after all, I wouldn't set foot in Boscombe, Bournemouth - so I just need to remember that ANYWHERE in the world could have a Boscombe!)


So be aware of the dangers, but not paralysed by fear because of them, remember all the good things you've heard and remember that if you've heard a lot more good things than bad things then it must be good - after all, bad news always spreads faster and further so the less you hear the better it is. Plus, what's the fun unless there's a little risk?

And above all else, I just need to keep calm and MAN UP!



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