Nostalgia. A memory trigger that can be a faint perception that makes you smirk, or an overwhelming sensation that shakes you to your core. Either way, it always sneaks up on you when you least expect it.
Having lived an exciting life, the dynamic nature of my activities often conjures up memories of moments, sounds or feelings from my past. The smell of flowers reminds me of experiences I have had with nature. A special apple salad my mom makes fills me with sweet and loving memories of spending Christmas with my family in Mexico. Though I have experienced it before, the hardest nostalgia has ever hit me was when I bit into my first Kanelbulle.
You see, I was travelling in Sweden. Whenever I have the pleasure to experience a new city I push myself to embrace the culture by eating the food, listening to the music and conversing with the locals. As I perused the mouth-watering deserts at a Swedish bakery, the Kanelbulle, or Swedish cinnamon roll, caught my eye. It seemed like any ordinary pastry. But as I bit into the sweet and flaky delicacy, I tasted the distinct flavor of cardamom. Then it hit me. Nostalgia, and not the delicate kind. The particular flavor in the dessert brought a staggering wave of emotion that instantly brought tears of gratitude and joy to my eyes.
Eleven years prior to my experience with the Kanelbulle in Sweden, I was in an Indian restaurant meeting with a client. While Indian food did not necessarily tickle my fancy, an array of spices intrigued me as I was leaving. After I was told this particular spice, called cardamom, was used as a palette cleanser, I popped one in my mouth in my efforts to grasp this aspect of Indian culture. By the time I arrived home I had been hit by a sickness so intense it had me on the floor moaning in misery. Assuming it was an allergic reaction, I went to the hospital. After much time had passed and questions remained unanswered, the doctors informed me that when I ingested the cardamom, it caused a cyst I had to swell up and block the bile duct between my gall bladder and liver. For those of you who do not know what that means, I will keep it simple: it was not good news. The sickness was called Extrahepatic Choledochal Cyst Type II, a disease so rare that only one out of every 150,000 people in this part of the world have it. Type II is only 2% of the cases found in this part of the hemisphere.
This information made me think about my newborn daughter, my soon-to-be-finished college education and the rest of my life I had yet to live. All of these things gave me purpose, or as my daughter says, made my heart “beep.”
So I kept on. I proceeded to raise my son to have the same optimistic outlook on life as I did. I continued my life as if I did not have a bag attached to my side draining bile from my digestive system while doing my finals in college. And I looked to my future as if there was no end in sight.
After much worrying I received more news. Good news. The positive outlook on life I have maintained throughout my years, and during this terrifyingly uncertain time is what saved my life. Those are not my words; they are the doctor’s.
“Your positive attitude saved you.”
Those words will forever resonate in my head.
Had I not eaten the cardamom in the Indian restaurant, the cyst might have been left untreated and eventually kill me. Had I not immersed myself into other cultures, I would not have experienced a nostalgia so intense. Had I not been blessed with the trait of curiosity and positivity when facing unfamiliarity, I am not sure I would be writing this today.
Nostalgia. A taste of personal history. A guide that teaches you traits about yourself that you never knew. A light that shines on special moments, hidden parts of yourself and life’s treasures.
Jacqueline Camacho-Ruiz is the CEO of JJR Marketing (www.jjrmarketing.com) and Fig Factor Media LLC (www.todayslatina.com), founder of The Fig Factor Foundation (www.thefigfactor.org), author of 11 books (www.jackiecamacho.com), international speaker, and pilot. Jacqueline speaks to hundreds of audiences about marketing, servant leadership, finding your passion, and achieving success in business. She has addressed the United States Army, BP International, Edward Jones, United Airlines, Allstate, and Farmers Insurance among other corporations to share her inspiration.
If you or an organization you know needs as speaker, please get in touch with us at http://www.jackiecamacho.com/contact.