What Are You Missing Out On?

I want to tell you a story. It’s kinda funny and kinda sad at the same time, but something I’m able to laugh about.

When I would visit my mother in Syracuse late in her life, I would usually spend at least a couple of days doing jobs around the house she could no longer do. Now, by this time, she’s around 90 years old and experiencing some serious cognitive challenges … confusion, memory loss, mixing up words, imagining things, etc. She has to have someone with her.

As I’m on my hands and knees scrubbing the floor, she says, “You’re a good worker.”

Awww … nice. “Thank you!”

“My daughters don’t do s**t for me!”

Takes me a second.

“Really? Well, just glad I can help.”

Forget that she had no idea who I was.

She recognized me as a good worker, and that’s sayin’ something, because she was a hard worker herself. She worked hard her whole life.

It’s a trait I got from her. It’s how I function. It’s my default.

I work long days, a lot of evenings, and often big chunks of time on the weekends. You might even say I’m driven.

Does that sound bad? I hope it doesn’t, because I really like 90% or more of what I do. The accounting and tax stuff … the administrative stuff … not so much. But, overall, my “work” is fun and rewarding, even exhilarating

And I’ve probably throttled back 15-20% thanks to a fuller understanding of one of the core principles of the law of attraction as the years have gone on … that you get more of what you focus on.

So, I spend more time now focusing on having fun. I take quite a bit of time away to relax, refresh, and recharge … to play. I think that’s so important for everyone.

We rang in 2017 in Mexico … spent 2 ½ weeks in Italy experiencing La Dolce Vita this spring … went to the beach for a total of three weeks in Florida and South Carolina this summer … and as you read this, we’re in Mexico again.

Am I blessed to be able to do this? YES! I’m incredibly blessed, and I appreciate that not everyone is able to take that kind of time away and it might be a stretch on the budget if you could. It’s my one true luxury.

But what gets me is … what if you CAN, but you AREN’T? What if you’re caught in a vicious cycle of work leading to more work, with ever more things on your blasted to-do list that make you think you shouldn’t or can’t take time for yourself. That’s a sad place to be … and dangerous to your health.

I see these surveys that come out saying Americans routinely don’t take all the vacation time they have coming to them. That’s crazy. Please say that isn’t you. You need that time. You need that break … that change of pace and scenery.

Life is supposed to be fun, and if it isn’t, something’s wrong. Sure, there are deadlines, family challenges, etc. … those times when you just have to do what you have to do and your time is not your own. Like spending time scrubbing your Mom’s floor. I get that.

But if you can take the time and you aren’t taking it, what’s that telling you?

I like being known as a good worker, a hard worker. I also like being known as somebody who knows how to put everything aside and go have fun.

It’s about balance.

Believe me, nobody says on her deathbed … “I wish I had cranked out a few more reports at work.”

It’s your life. It’s your time. Enjoy it!

My Place In Playa

Speaking of Mexico, we have our condo we bought there earlier this year fixed up and furnished. We may move down there eventually, but in the meantime, we plan to visit occasionally and list it for rental when we’re not there.

We’re already getting bookings for the holiday season and the winter months when it’s cold up north … and warm and sunny on the Riviera Maya.

We still have a few finishing touches to put on it … pictures we’re taking down with us, a little more painting, a small construction project, but we’re pretty happy with how it’s turned out.

Take a look and see what we’ve done to it.

If you’re interested, it’s available for short to medium term rental, and we’d be honored if you’d tell your friends, family, and co-workers about it.

We’d love to have good people in there … people we know … and who we know would enjoy the place.

If you’d like more info, just give us a shout.

Vaya con Dios,
Denise