Another great day in Vienna! We toured a palace, walked up
to the top of St. Stephen’s church, did a Rick Steve’s self-guided walking
tour, ate some cake, shopped the local Christmas market, and had an Austrian
beer to close out the day. We only had one full day in Vienna, so we had to
make the most of our time. Tomorrow we leave bright and early for Salzburg.
Maria and I are both so excited for our Sound of Music tour. Last night we
watched the Sound of Music and sang to all the songs together. It was wonderfully
cheesy and I loved every minute of it!
At the end of the day today, Maria and I were on the metro
back to our apartment and I was watching this little boy (about 2 or 3) and his
mom interact. They had just come from the same Christmas market we were at and
the little boy was completely enthralled with his Spiderman balloon and his
balloon sword (2 balloon items – lucky kid!). His mom handed him his balloon
sword and he was having a ball swinging it around and investigating the
intricate detail of how the thing was put together (kid, I’m 25 and I still
can’t figure out those things!). After a few swings he suddenly got his balloon
sword caught up in the string of his Spiderman balloon. He tugged and tugged
and tugged but could not get his sword lose. He got frustrated, annoyed, a
little upset, and tugged some more. His motions got more furious and careless
as the balloon continued to stay tangled up. As an observer, I could easily see
that if he had just stopped for a second to analyze the situation, it would
have taken but one turn in the right direction to free the balloon sword from
the web of Spiderman. Finally, the boy was able to free his balloon, but not
without headache and force. Sound familiar? How often do we continuously try to
tug and tug and tug at difficult things in life to make a change, but just end up getting more frustrated with life because nothing seems to be working? If only we tried a little harder, right? Wrong.
I do it all the time. Sometimes the best thing we can do is
let go and ask for help. Sigh…help. It’s a four-letter word for me. I hate
asking for help. I feel a little hypocritical, because just a few blog posts
ago I wrote about how I need to not ask for opinions and advice as much, but
need to rely on my own thoughts a little more. This is so so true. It’s so
important to never lose yourself. Never let one person or a group of people be
your mind and your heart. You were given one of your own for a reason. And yet,
when your mind and your heart are telling you lies or something is too big for
you to handle, that four-little word can be your saving grace.
Another thought came to mind as well. Bare with me as I go
off on this tangent…I promise I’ll tie it altogether. Affirmation. I am a firm
believer in sharing words of affirmation with people. No, it’s not my love
language, but I think it’s a dying language. My guess is people a) are too
embarrassed to “get real” with friends and tell them how great they are, b)
have a hard time doling out compliments because they never received them (or
received them too often and now it doesn’t mean anything), or c) …well, I’m not
sure, but I know there are many more reasons why compliments aren’t shared. But
I am here to advocate that we change this! If you think someone is awesome, you
should tell them. If you think someone is talented, you should tell them. If
you enjoy someone’s company, you should tell them. If you like someone’s
outfit, you should tell them. If you enjoyed a conversation with someone, you
should tell them. You get the idea. I’m not talking about commenting on
someone’s facebook photo (although, those are all good things). I’m talking
about personal, one-on-one complements. Email someone a personal email. Pick up
the phone and call them and tell them how great they are. Say it to their face
the next time you see them. It’s amazing
what a little compliment can do for someone. Brighten someone’s day. Share a
compliment. Share love….authentic, genuine love.
Ok, now time to tie it altogether. I got a short, but
out-of-the-blue sweet sweet email from a friend complimenting me on a few
things I’m typically most insecure about. Usually I try and fight those
insecurities on my own, like the little boy and his battle of the balloons. But
today I got some help. Thanks to a random act of affirmation, I surrendered,
accepted the compliment, and it made my day. It was a little thing, but getting
help doesn’t have to be big. And sharing a compliment doesn’t have to be a grand
gesture either. Just try it. And try asking for help. There may
be an observer close by who can clearly see the direction to take. Or maybe
not. But at least you have someone to share in the misery of untangling
whatever balloon sword drama life has thrown your way.
Here’s to compliments and asking for help!
Enjoy the photos!
Cappuccino with breakfast!
Outside the Palace
On our Rick Steve's self-guided walking tour!
A stop for Apple Strudel
The Christmas Market!
An Austrian beer to close out the day!
Maria was reading through the Rick Steve's book about Salzburg. His directions told us to turn on "Dreifaltigkeitsgasse" street to get to our tour. Could there be any more letters in this word!!!??
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