Doing Nothing!

We were visiting Australia in 2008. My daughter Aamya was three years old. Our days were packed with sightseeing & fun activities. We were in Gold Coast & had bought tickets to Universal Park. My husband, Sumit and I were very excited. Aamya didn’t share our excitement though.

As we entered, we started planning our day. We poured over the map and schedule, deciding where to start. Aamya saw a park in the center of the Universal Studio, and ran towards it. She found herself a green patch and sat there.

She declared that’s what she will do for the day. No rides, no show for her. She just wants to sit in one place.

Sumit, and I tried our best to get her to rides but she didn’t budge. We were frustrated, we were angry. It felt like a lot of money going down the drain. What happened, it was supposed to be a fun day.

We couldn’t leave three years old Aamya by herself nor did we feel like going to rides alone. We gave in.

We went through all five stages of grief. Beginning from denial- “this can’t be happening”, anger-“this is our first time in Universal , you can’t do this to us”, bargaining-“ please Aamya” , depression -“ohhhh”and finally we came to acceptance- “ ok what now” .

Once we reached acceptance, there was peace. We sat in the park from morning to evening, until the park’s closing time. We witnessed all the activity and buzz around us. We ate french fries for lunch and generally lazed around. Three of us had lots of fun “doing nothing”

We didn’t take many pictures, yet it is the most memorable day of the trip.

Have you ever tried or been forced to have fun “doing nothing”.