Why Saying Yes with Curiosity Matters

Me at the Holi festival

You can still share cultural and impactful experiences in your same city. While those who know me well know I LOVE to travel, they also know I enjoy experiences. That’s what life is made of. Little, big, long, short, but each event is an experience which can shape who you are.

I attended a Holi festival with my husband, kids, and friends of ours. This is a Hindu festival of colors which celebrates mainly the triumph of good over evil. Would I have done this years ago? I’m not so sure. But I said yes with curiosity. It did scare me a little since I knew it was also considered religious, and very messy. Any other moms out there feel me? One of my first anxieties was the mess…to be honest.

Yet, this gave a growth opportunity to everyone in our family. My daughter experienced the fun of an activity with her good friends (one of which is Hindu), my son and husband got to run around and see which of them could get more colors on the other, and I took it all in with so much joy I felt like crying.

Husband and kids enjoying Holi…they are the messiest ones on the right

There was a music, dancer on stage who performed, a guy giving kids water balloons, and adults all running around with huge smiles and splattered colors. People went around sharing colors with one another, giving hugs, and kids got to be kids by playing and making a mess for a reason.

By the time we left we still had huge smiles, and colors everywhere. When I say everywhere I mean it literally. Hair, shoes, scalp, teeth, lips, nails, sunglasses, etc. It was even still in little cracks of my car after multiple cleanings.

Daughter with the red color still in her scalp

That day each family member all grew more in their own way. By saying yes with curiosity, I saw the beauty of the event, and moved past the anxiety of the mess and fear of being unintentionally disrespectful to their religion by attending. I was invited to learn more about the cultural event and invited to ask questions. Honestly, the mess later on continued to give me smiles for a long time.

Being curious as a kid was exciting. You had opportunities to try new things and didn’t have as many preconceived notions yet. However, somewhere along the way we tend to lose the curious tendencies and crave the familiar. Why? Because our brains are trying to protect us. Recognizing and acknowledging gratitude for the protection is important. But it’s more important to also push past those notions and follow curiosity to the unfamiliar. What will you say yes to with curiosity?

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