Last weekend I was in Goa – for weeks before I dreamt of the sun, the sand and the promise of Goan sausage pao accompanied with 600ml of cheap Kingfisher Beer goodness.
And the holiday was great but I learnt some great life lessons in those four days – taking sunscreen with me being the most obvious one as the title alludes. Yes, I got sunburnt. Red as a crab, sunburnt.
Lesson 1: Too much of a good thing is bad for you
While I just loved lounging around in the sun and feeling the warm breeze on my body, I didn’t realize my body was cooking itself. Too late did I feel the sting of staying out too late in the sun.
This is also the case with other areas – we don’t take precautions and dive straight into something that feels good. Because something that feels so good, so right could not possible hurt us right? Wrong.
Caption: Jumping around in the Sun while my skin cooks
Lesson 2: Let the pain come but don’t give up
Later that day my skin burnt with a passion – couldn’t bear anyone touching me, not even my poor hubby who tried to apply cream to cool me down. But we were goa, so lounge about by the water we must. I decided if not the beach I will lounge by the pool so ignoring the sting I spent the next two afternoons in the pool.
Case in point – when you fail and realize your mistake, you just want to be left alone and often bite the head off of those that come with a peace offering and/or bearing pity. However, rather than biting their head off accept the pain of your mistake and try to make the best of the situation.
Caption: Completely burnt but a slice of cake always makes you feel better
Lesson 3: The pain dulls down. Always
By day four, the skin only stung when I tried to put on clothes. The top layer of my nose crinkled when I tried to smile as the new skin underneath formed. It was irritating but also a great reminder not to go to Goa again without sunscreen!
Same goes for any other failure really. No matter what you think when xyz bad thing is happening take heart in the fact that this too will pass and what’s life without some great stories. If everything just went good all the time we probably wouldn’t be able to differentiate the good from the okay and would never be able to be really happy. So just ride the wave and try smiling through it.
Lesson 4: Peeling off the old layers is actually fun!
After four days of coming back from Goa, my skin finally started peeling off. The new skin was ready to reveal itself and I spent a happy half hour peeling off the old layers of top skin – much like I did when I fell down as a child
That’s when it struck me. Sunburn is like any other so called ‘bad’ thing that happens in life. While its taking place we may feel that it is the end of the world but it isn’t ever really. Our body and minds learn to live through it and we are always a better person as a result of it.
Who would have thought that being sunburnt in Goa could have that much to teach?
P.S. A big thank you to our editor Asha for her super recommendations for things to do in Goa.
asha chaudhry
abhinav,
congrats! check the top of your post!
🙂
Anamika Joshi
🙂 I could actually relate to everything and learn the lessons alongside 🙂 Got burnt just the way you explained (with nothing to add or minus) on my visit to Goa this month. But never imagined that the painful experience could be actually transformed into such wonderful lessons :)))) Kudos!!!