Lower Your Expectations

   I have long been known as a "glass half empty" kind of person.  I admit I tend to imagine  most situations to their "worst case" end.   I am sorry to say that I passed this on to at least one of my daughters so perhaps one could conclude that this is a genetic trait.  Thus, may I be absolved of all responsibility for it?  All those positive thinking people would undoubtedly be disappointed if I tried to pass this off, if  they allowed themselves to think badly of anyone.  My husband, the quintessential positive, is often frustrated by this line of thinking, but recently it worked to my advantage.
   One of my daughters and her husband live in Equatorial Guinea, a country located on the west coast of Africa, near the equator.  The capitol city, Malabo, is on an island, roughly 250 miles west of the rest of the country. This is where they live and where the US Embassy is, where my son-in-law works. This is not, by any stretch, a vacation destination.  From the time they received this assignment I have been less than enthusiastic about going to see them, but in a weak moment, I agreed to spend a week there. This is when my natural negative thinking proved invaluable.  After arranging our travel I began to imagine all kinds of horrendous scenarios where "safe" and edible food was scarce, snakes, cockroaches and spiders were plentiful, and hot and humid temperatures unbearable. In other words, my expectations couldn't have been lower.  To further put my feelings into perspective, one must know that I detest sleeping under the stars, have never spent more than one night at girl' s camp, and have a phobia of anything crawling on me or my clothing.
   What a relief to arrive there and find all of these worries unfounded.  The town house where our daughter and husband live is very nice,  and there is even a small swimming pool right out front. I saw very few bugs inside or out, and most were already dead (my very favorite kind of bug). The weather, although extremely humid, was tolerable and on occasion we even enjoyed a breeze.  Due in large part to shipments from the U.S. we ate "normal" food.  My son-in-law did try to convince me to go to a local restaurant named Ali-Babba's but I couldn't do it. It was my conceived view of what their kitchen must look like that kept me away....  We had hot running water, electricity and air conditioning. Not bad for a third world country.
   This experience in Africa has reinforced my belief that if one conjures up enough negative things to worry about, there is no way but up.  Negative thinking has served me well thus far.  Maybe I should write a self-help book about it.