Pair-O-Ducks

A paradox is something that seems contradictory... a Pair-O-Ducks is something that I'm told is going to change my life.


Meet my Pair-O-Ducks, Yay Duck and Yuck Duck:

A guy named Jerry Jones is here at Orientation doing some training on Transition into Chinese culture.  Today he talked to us about the idea of embracing the good and bad (Yay Duck and Yuck Duck) simultaneously.  Our tendency is to cling to the Yay Duck (pleasant situations) and ignore/hide from the Yuck Duck (difficult circumstances), but in reality we have to deal with them both. When we enter a new culture, we'll encounter new things that fall into both the Yay and Yuck categories.  He talked a lot about how when we push the unfamiliar/unpleasant/"Yuck" things away and try to protect ourselves from them, we cause a lot of stress for ourselves and miss out on really beautiful new experiences. It can be easy to put on a happy face, squeeze our Yay Duck, and pretend like everything is perfect so we don't have to deal with difficult things.  When we do that, though, we are missing an opportunity for real community, and eventually those things we've been suppressing will boil to the surface.  On the other hand, we can become so overwhelmed by our Yuck Duck that all we focus on are the unfamiliar, unpleasant, difficult things and not only are we miserable, we're miserable for others to be around.  So I want to be very intentional about taking the Yay and Yuck experiences for what they are and embracing the whole journey... good China days and bad China days alike.

It was much more eloquent and made more sense when Jerry explained it...but you get the idea.  :)  Bye for now!



-Mollie