Tag: travel

Thankful for Setting Goals in Advance, the Serenity NOW!!!, & Eating Outside

Day 3,121

Growth:

With selling our boat there were two big goals we had – sell it quickly rather than drag on the process and get a fair price for it. We did our research on the set up and set the price very fair. When I posted it this morning I wasn’t sure what to expect. Within two hours we had almost a dozen offers!

While part of me questioned whether I priced it too low or not I remembered to pause and consider the goal. Get it sold quickly and at a fair price. The asking price we threw out there was very fair and I would have been happy to get it. With as quickly as the offers came in I couldn’t help but wonder if I should have priced it lower. When this thought came up I just kept going back to the initial goal, why second guess what I thought was fair from the beginning?

The entire process has been a wonderful opportunity to learn about myself and my values. So thankful for remembering to set goals when I have the benefit of extra time, less emotion, and a clear head. In the heat of the moment it is so easy to second guess and reconsider, remember to think ahead and trust the plan.

Appreciation:

Selling the boat has been a bittersweet process. While it is time to move on as the boys have outgrown it and we want to move on to other water based adventures (canoeing and kayaking), there are so many family stories and memories tied up in the boat. For the past 14-ish years we’ve spent a ton of our spare summer time on boat as a family soaking up the sun, playing in the sand, and splashing in the water. Wrapping up this chapter brings back so many memories and emotion.

Who’d ever have thought you could go through a sort of grieving process over the loss of a boat? For sure, the metal itself isn’t a big deal, just the memories it symbolizes. When I remember that it is so much easier to let it go. The memories will live on regardless of if have it, and now someone else will have the opportunity to create more memories with their family.

Here’s to 14 years of a vessel for our family fun and bonding!

Presence:

Is there any better place to eat a family meal than outside on the deck? The weather today was PERFECT and we ate both lunch and supper outside in the sun. Gotta love how much better the food tastes when it is eaten outside!

Thanks!!!

Thankful for an Awesome “Jessie Patagonia” Yoga Session!

Day 3,093

Okay, I’m totally breaking from the normal script today. Instead of focusing on Growth, Appreciation, and Presence I’m focused on the awesome yoga practice Becky and I went to at Root Down Yoga. Due to Gavin’s driving lesson tomorrow night we moved our Monday Yoga Date Night to Sunday. Getting that time away for the two of us to share something we love was an incredible way to wrap up the weekend.

All of the teachers at Root Down are outstanding and all have their “normal-ish” practice that they take us through. I appreciate how each one throws out slightly different twists to keep us on our toes from practice to practice. With Jessie leading the class today I had a pretty solid idea of what I was in for, but I was totally mistaken in a really positive way.

When we walked into the studio we had fun talking with Jessie about my trip to Patagonia, something that will be more relevant in a moment. It kicked in some fun travel memories before I got to my mat.

Jessie’s class was totally NOT what I expected at all! She had a different rhythm and cadence that helped me stay focused. There were different poses strung together and my mind had zero chance to wander as all my attention stayed on my breathing and making the appropriate movements. Part way through she switched from leading a series of poses with our left legs after we’d started with the normal right leg starts earlier. Towards the end there was a new position I’d never tried before. By the end I caught myself smiling as I could only imagine what lay ahead!

Throughout the entire class she was her awesomely normal super positive, upbeat, high energy, humorous, and epically supportive self! It was the Jessie who always causes us to enter the studio with a smile of anticipation and leave with an even bigger smile of a great workout and more positive outlook.

While I was in Final Rest I caught myself almost chuckling out loud when I realized her nickname should be “Jessie Patagonia!” During the workout I kept thinking of one of my favorite hiking trails there – the hike up to Mirador Base las Torres (https://www.alltrails.com/trail/chile/magallanes/mirador-torres-del-paine-via-sendero-las-torres-a-chileno?u=i&sh=qwjnjg).

That trail had so many similar twists and turns! It started in a cattle pasture, goes up a rocky hill, dips into a freaking rain forest, crosses over blue rivers whenever it feels like it, twists into an old growth forest, kicks into a rocky and almost Hixon Forest in La Crosse feel, turns into a borderline bouldering session, and then switches between sand, rock, and boulders until you make the final climb of well over 1,000′ of elevation gain in less than three quarters of a mile. Did I mention the views of a river valley, massive glaciers, and unreal rock formations throughout? By the end you are rewarded with one of the most spectacular views, a lake separating you from massive 8,000’+ tall sheer granite cliffs. The beginning of the hike gets you smiling at the prospect of the sights in front of you. The next six and a half miles keep you guessing about what is around each corner while you’re level of joy continues to increase. The final view leaves you speechless and in a state of awe. It’s an epic wild ride of joy and awe!

Today’s yoga session led by Jessie was so much like that! We started with smiles, worked along the path and enjoyed all the twists and turns and never knew what would come next, and were then rewarded with an awesome yoga session that increased our already high levels of joy.

Jessie Patagonia – Dude… for reals. That was EPIC today!!! Thank you for not only leading an awesome session, but for bringing back some incredible travel memories!!! You’ve got to start planning your trip to the other side of the world to experience why I’m only calling you Jessie Patagonia moving forward 😉 Thanks for sharing your awesomeness with us today!!!

Thanks!!!

Thankful for a Fitting Seneca Quote, Choosing Positivity in a Whirlwind, & a Moment in Alaska

Day 3,034

Growth:

I’ve seen this before, but it struck a very different chord in me today and had a profoundly positive impact on how I chose to spend my day.

“No man is more unhappy than he who never faces adversity. For he is not permitted to prove himself”

Seneca

This morning I started reading Arnold Schwarzenegger’s new book, Be Useful. Honestly, it has been blowing my mind page after page. So many examples of what focus and hard work can create in our lives. My workout this evening was improved as a result of the stories he shared. This quote was one of the most concise ways to summarize the first half of this book.

Appreciation:

From the start today has been a day which was very much off balance – and somehow that helped make the rest of day a very productive one. There have been plot twists, changes in plans, curveballs, and any other cliche you want to toss out there. When I think back there are at least six different events which easily could have disrupted my day and caused serious challenge. Instead, I chose to adapt.

Early in the morning I decided I would flow with the day rather than attempt to impose my will upon it. I saw it as an opportunity to challenge myself to stay focused on my goals for the day while simultaneously flowing and bending like a sapling on a windy day. After the second change of pace I caught myself smiling and enjoying the struggle. How wild is that?

It’s bizarre, but even in a whirlwind of chaos and change there is a choice to make. Push back against the gusts and break, let go and blow away, or become one with the wind and allow it to shift us while still staying grounded. When we choose to stay grounded but flexible we can find ways to be productive towards our goals AND adapt to what’s going on around… AND enjoy the ride at the same time!

Today was a test, one I rather enjoyed. I never would have chosen the surprises along the way, but they really created an opportunity for me to learn and grow, a situation full of discomfort yet so full of opportunity. I chose positivity, flexibility, adaptability, and focus and I smiled the entire way. At one point I caught myself shaking my head while laughing to myself and asking, “what next” – not in frustration, but almost the crazy anticipation of the next opportunity to flex my “choose positivity” muscles. It was wild.

A topsy turvy day for sure, but one in which I grew, smiled, and made progress towards my goals.

Presence:

For a variety of reasons, my mind has gone back to Alaska today. Specifically, the day we helped Dad reach his 50th state. That moment shared with family, remains one of the most touching of my life. What a moment it was, a moment of both stillness, presence, and love.

Thanks!!!

Thankful for Solitude in Nature, Travel Tangents, & Getting Lost in a Story

Day 3,018

Growth:

2024 started off with finishing up my most recent reading of Awareness by Anthony de Mello. One of the passages that really hit home for me was this as he talks about finding peace and awareness through becoming okay with being alone…

It will help, too, if you return to nature. Send the crowds away, go up to the mountains, and silently commune with the trees and flowers and animals ad birds, with sea and clouds and sky and stars. …Get back to nature, go up in the mountains. Then you will know that your heart has brought you to the vast desert of solitude, there is no one at your side, absolutely no one. 

At first this will seem unbearable. But it is only because you are unaccustomed to aloneness. If you manage to stay there for a while, the desert will suddenly blossom into love. Your heart will burst into song. And it will be spring-time forever, the drug will be out, you’re free. Then you will understand what freedom is, what love is, what happiness is, what reality is, what truth is, what God is.”

Anthony de Mello, Awareness

From my backpacking experience last year I can start to understand what he means by this quote. Being alone in the woods, experiencing solitude, is magic for the soul.

Appreciation:

Vacations… ahh… one of my happy places and favorite activities! This evening I was working on a few details on planning one trip and then went down a bit of a rabbit hole cleaning out some old travel emails. That task somehow parlayed itself into digging into old vacation photos. While digging into the old photos I was reminded to pull some additional for a few different friends relating to trips and had the opportunity to re-live some of those past trips. 

Some of the reading in Awareness tonight was focused on being present while on trips, not living behind the camera and only seeing the trip through the lens. I am grateful for the advice I got somewhere along the road about taking just enough photos to spark and clarify the memories, but not so much to miss the moment. It is a difficult balance, being present in the moment while also capturing just enough to re-live it over and over again and to maximize the memory dividend.

LOL – there I go again, drifting off on another vacation and travel related tangent! That’s exactly what I am thankful for this evening!

Presence:

While there were a handful of moments of presence throughout the day I’m going to kind of cheat and go back to last night. Gavin recommended Timeline by Michael Crichton a little over a year ago and it has been sitting on my nightstand ever since. Last night as I prepped for sleep I decided it was time to bust it out and give it a read. The next thing I knew almost an hour had passed and I was deep into the story. 

What a gift it is to get lost in a wonderful book! When written well our minds can clearly picture all that is happening while also making connections to real life and piece together where the story may be going. Each page leads us further down the path, committing us more and more to the story. Today I’m grateful for those moments of presence while reading, I’m off to see if I can replicate it again!

Thanks!!!