“On-Holiday”

Have you ever approached a store front just to find a hand-written sign stating, “we’re-closed,” lousily taped up to the door? Where you are from, is having a successful business is ALL ABOUT customer service? Is being closed during normal business hours simply unheard of?

For me, it’s yes, yes & yes. But I never witnessed these signs until I got out of the people-pleasing suburbia that I am from. Seeing these hand-written signs of closure always both amazed and disappointed me. “How dare they be closed when I wanted to come in!” Or, “How can a business afford to do such a risky thing!” This was my mentality.

But here in this small, cozy Costa Rican beach town, finding a cover for a yoga class can be hard. And with the Solstice and Christmas approaching, I found myself craving a trip somewhere a little cooler than the sunny, shade-less, beach. Elevation will do that, so to the mountains I went. But not without making my first-ever “Pura-Vida” business move.

Somewhere within the hustle and bustle of preparing for my departure, I realized I still hadn’t notified anyone about the week’s schedule changes, or, cancelations for that matter. And I realized this while I was already at the hotel where I teach, without any official sign prepared. 

So to my regret but with gratitude, I asked the front desk for a piece of paper and a marker. I ripped the single sheet of paper in half, and wrote my first ever “No classes this week,” sign. I used a highlighter that the front desk had on hand as a lousy attempt to make it an ounce more official, and then took some tape, and headed to the entrance of the yoga shala.

As I pulled the tape, ripped it into lengths sufficient enough to last the full week of humid beach air, and secured the sign to the wooden post of the shala, my mind was saying, “At least you are doing something,” and, “this has been done before.” Attempting to convince myself to forgive my “unprofessionalism”. So, with my sign finally secured with my off-brand scotch tape, I gave it a little pat with a sigh of relief. I laughed out loud as I walked away and chuckled, “Pure Vida!”

A week later I returned, pulled the signs down, and classes continued like normal.

Pura Vida!