The Importance of Being Hopeful

It’s nearly midnight. I’m sitting on the floor of John F. Kennedy International airport, pathetically gazing at the luggage carousel, hoping to find one large green suitcase with blue ribbons tumbling out. I have been in flight for more hours than I can count, my stomach has long forgotten the last thing I ate, and now, my suitcase has disappeared. I’m on an unexpected overnight layover in New York and I’m stressed, angry, and worried.

I’m worried because my luggage is nowhere to be found and I have to spend the night in a hotel without any of the items people usually use on those occasions. I’m worried that my luggage is now making it’s way around a carousel in Caracas or Hong Kong, drawing the attention of unsavory characters, and is about to be taken to a new home. I’m worried that the ticketing agent in Rome who clearly didn’t like me facilitated this whole thing on purpose. I’m worried about my flight the next day, that it will be canceled too, or I’ll be late, or any other number of things that could go wrong.

The next morning, my worries continue. Although I arrive to the airport early, the line to check in to my flight is massive and unmoving. I wait, stressing out more and more, until, with a short time left before my flight, I can’t take it anymore and hail a representative of my airline. He tells me that because I didn’t have to check any bags, he could check me in right then and there. That was the moment it finally occurred to me that all my worrying was for nothing.

When we worry, we tend to assume the worst. I imagined Chinese thieves digging through my luggage and enjoying my souvenirs from Paris. But that’s rarely how things actually turn out. Most of the time, the situation resolves itself better than you anticipated and sometimes, like for me in New York, it actually turns out for the best. Because the airline had lost my luggage, I could actually make my flight on time. Plus, I got a break from lugging that damn suitcase around. And the worst part is that worrying is probably the single most unrewarding thing you could do. Not only does it stress you out, it’s completely unnecessary. It’s neither helpful nor productive and no amount of worrying can affect the outcome of a situation. What’s the alternative? To hope for the best.

Here’s how my night would have gone if I had forced myself to stop agonizing over the small things: I’d have laughed more with my fellow passengers in line, I’d have gone to check for my suitcase near midnight, but I wouldn’t have gotten prematurely angry at any imagined bandits, and I’d have enjoyed the conversation with my cab driver on the way to the hotel. There, I’d have had more energy for chatting with the family at the dinner table next to me and for the tasty burger I ordered (since I didn’t waste that energy panicking or plotting bloody murder). I’d have joined in watching whatever game was on TV at the bar and maybe would have had a beer for the hell of it. I’d have gone up to my comfortable hotel room at around 1:30 am and would have jumped into the soft, plush bed and drifted off to sleep almost immediately, because I’d have been undisturbed by negative thoughts. I’d wake up early to a hot shower (the first truly luxurious shower in a long time—no thanks to you,Europe!) and then I’d have made my way downstairs for a complimentary breakfast of waffles, bacon, and eggs. Sometime during my cup of coffee and the free Wall Street Journal I was reading, I’d have ruminated on the fact that I would arrive home from an international trip well-rested and fresh, for the first time ever. And most importantly, my suitcase would have been waiting for me in San Francisco when I landed.

So, don’t give a bad turn of events the pleasure of upsetting you. You never know how things will turn out, and either way, it’s usually out of your control. Enjoy what you have, wherever you are, and whoever you are with. Hope may be the last to go, but worry should be the first.

Tatiana Sundeyeva has gotten into the terrible habit of thinking about everything. She enjoys travel, literature, puns, and anything that can be found in a bakery. And not necessarily in that order. She is a graduate of UC Berkeley where she got a degree in English with a minor in Italian.