Friday, June 17, 2005
learning to be
tomorrow morning i leave on a 10 day road trip with my mom, brother and my brother's girlfriend. i am thrilled. i love road trips more than most things, and this one will take us to some amazing places!
even more than the destinations though, i am thrilled with preparation for this trip. my mom and i are accompanying my brother and his girlfriend on the first 10 days of what will be in total a 45 day trek. as such, my brother did all the planning, all the reservation making, all the distance calculating - and as official family trip planner for the last 6 years i cannot tell you how amazing it has been for me to just let him take charge. i am so excited to be on a vacation where i am not the expedition leader.
this freedom has given me a chance to think in preparation about what i want out of the trip - why is that i'm going? i think it's a great question to ask ourselves in preparation for any event...a trip to the local pub or our annual review with our boss, but vacations are especially important time to review our expectations (in fact i know a coaching team that works specifically on designing vacations that work). because if we don't get our expectations out in the open for ourselves and our traveling companions up front, we will likely end up dissapointed or worse - really pissed off.
so my goal on this trip, to be. that simple. to be in the moment, whether that moment is in the car in middle of north dakota or climbing a mountain in olympic national park. i don't want to yearn for our arrival at our next destination or focus only on the summit of the mountain - i want to experience each moment fully.
i've realized lately that one of the big barriers to really being present and living each moment full out is trying to do 200 things in each moment. when we overcommit ourselves and end up running around all the time, we can't focus on the present moment because we feel like we are supposed to be in five places within that single moment.
so my mantra for my vacation - go slow and experience everything fully. if you are at all like me, i'd encourage you to try out this mantra or your own adaptation. give yourself permission to slow down and enjoy. say it to yourself through out the day, or write it on a post-it and put it somewhere you will read it regularly. while getting it all done often feels like the answer, in actuality choosing to be present is key to us really getting to live big.
hopefully my next post will come to you from an internet cafe in seattle, wa!
dream big,
-kirsten
even more than the destinations though, i am thrilled with preparation for this trip. my mom and i are accompanying my brother and his girlfriend on the first 10 days of what will be in total a 45 day trek. as such, my brother did all the planning, all the reservation making, all the distance calculating - and as official family trip planner for the last 6 years i cannot tell you how amazing it has been for me to just let him take charge. i am so excited to be on a vacation where i am not the expedition leader.
this freedom has given me a chance to think in preparation about what i want out of the trip - why is that i'm going? i think it's a great question to ask ourselves in preparation for any event...a trip to the local pub or our annual review with our boss, but vacations are especially important time to review our expectations (in fact i know a coaching team that works specifically on designing vacations that work). because if we don't get our expectations out in the open for ourselves and our traveling companions up front, we will likely end up dissapointed or worse - really pissed off.
so my goal on this trip, to be. that simple. to be in the moment, whether that moment is in the car in middle of north dakota or climbing a mountain in olympic national park. i don't want to yearn for our arrival at our next destination or focus only on the summit of the mountain - i want to experience each moment fully.
i've realized lately that one of the big barriers to really being present and living each moment full out is trying to do 200 things in each moment. when we overcommit ourselves and end up running around all the time, we can't focus on the present moment because we feel like we are supposed to be in five places within that single moment.
so my mantra for my vacation - go slow and experience everything fully. if you are at all like me, i'd encourage you to try out this mantra or your own adaptation. give yourself permission to slow down and enjoy. say it to yourself through out the day, or write it on a post-it and put it somewhere you will read it regularly. while getting it all done often feels like the answer, in actuality choosing to be present is key to us really getting to live big.
hopefully my next post will come to you from an internet cafe in seattle, wa!
dream big,
-kirsten
# posted by kirsten johnson @ 5:48 AM 