It's Summer: Dive in to Something New

A few posts back I decided the baby steps mantra was bad news.  After studying how Dr. Dean Ornish got people to clean out their arteries without surgery I decided his system could be applied to the Live Like Vacation mind-set.

He threw people into a high intensity program.  No baby steps.  Even babies don't take baby steps.  People practicing baby steps get nowhere.  They stay put thinking they have a lot of time before lifting the leg and eeking out another step.

The exercise schedule, the diet, and group support are intensive.  Meaning, the folks were immersed in the program daily.  No time off.  No delays.  No down time to get you down.  No opportunity to slide backwards.  This immersion helps you develop the new habits to stick with it.

So, once you are sleeping better, and authentically and have daily routine with wiggle room, it's time to immerse yourself in things that bring you joy.

**New **
     Step 6

Yes, it's time for Step 6.     (BTW....here's 1-5 to review)

Step #6.  Get your joy hobby in gear.  (Now that you've ditched the unproductive....Immerse yourself.)

J   join
O  outlet
Y  yearn

J. join others in a social supportive context.  Church worship, charity, exercise group, a class, or just plain togetherness with like minded people.


O. Find your outlet for creativity.  Make things, beautify your home, cook great food, learn an instrument, write, Make your mark on the world with your brain.

Y. Yearn for new information, try new things, read, teach yourself something, find a unique way to tweak your best traits.

It's summer time.  Things are laid back.  So start something new while it's warm and relaxing.  Joy hobbies can be very energizing.    Ready....Set....GO!

90 Day Check Up: No Faith in the 21 Day Rule

I've been blogging  about the live like vacation lifestyle since February and can honestly say, I've hit the 90 day slump.

When they say it takes 21 days to establish a habit.........they are wrong!!!!!
Don't believe it.   It takes months!  

If it only took 21 days, we'd solve all the world's problems thousands of years ago!

Here's my assessment and where I think I began to slide.

1.  Still getting enough sleep?  Self  Score  80%
Weekdays I get to bed by 9:30.  One day I had to cram in some paperwork and stayed up until 11:30.  I just had to get it done or I would not have been able to sleep.  Weekends have not been easy.  They day really flies by and who wants to get to sleep early when you could enjoy two or three more late hours......  Maybe my score should be around 70 or 65.

2.  Is my day systematized?  Self Score  90%
I am giving myself a higher score on this because I do like my routines.  The downfall however is that this is still worker bee stuff and i am locked in busyiness and not seeing any forward movement in work or hobbies.  I seem to be locked in some stagnation.  I feel calmer and more easy going, but would like to be more productive.

3.  Knocking out the unproductive  Self Score 70%
I could do more with my time in the evenings.  I waste a lot of time reading on the internet, short fluffy things like Facebook.

4.  Make your work joyful to yourself and others   Self Score 90%
I like my work days.  I feel less overwhelmed.  I work with my members where they are and try to teach them new things.  I would like to be more creative however.  I could offer more services, but I need to plan it out with some type of system that will still allow for individualized attention.

5. Wiggle Room and Taking Control of My Plate Self Score  90%
 I have wiggle room in my day.  I have taken some things off my plate lately.

6. Domino Effect Self Score  95%
I've resumed more healthy habits that have provided a ripple effect in my day, activities.  The sleep factor has been impactful.  I've been more focused on diet/fitness.
(Future topics in the works here)

7. The Principle of Comfort Zone Inertia  Self Score  60%
Yeah, I show no mercy to myself here.  I want to do more, learn more, be more creative, pursue a spiritual vocation outside of my work in health care.   It's still on the back burner.

I want to develop this blog more.  I haven't unveiled the radical health makeover portion that I have hinted about.  I am experimenting on myself, obviously, the work is ongoing.

My average score is 82%.  Is it a reliable, valid score?  Who know.....but it was fun to look back at the last 90 days.  I would say the last 30 were a bit regressive because I wasn't blogging as often as I did early on.  For that reason I should lower  my score.

So, definitely toss out the 21 day rule.  Keep the focus....daily.

More to come.

What Does It Mean to Live Like Vacation?

What is it to live like vacation?

Well, I'm not one to rule anyone's life, but it is a choice to live like vacation.

If you want to face each moment of your day with enjoyment and peace, even if parts of that day includes work and chores, you are living like vacation.

Living like vacation means you maintain the vacation feel during your regular life.  You find meaning in everything you do.  You work efficiently with forward moving goals to prevent stagnation, and yet you find enough downtime to give yourself  more energy to jump back into your goals.

Control the World or Inspire the World

This is Holy Week and I'm getting some good pearls of wisdom listening to the radio.  I am listening to Relevant Radio.  I just heard a profound message from Dr. Ray Benedetto.

His entire segment was profound because this is the first time I heard of him.  He promotes character based capitalism, which is something the public probably has a hard time believing can exist.

He talked about "trying to control the world," which we know deep down is a rotten idea, yet we still try to do it.  In our own "I can do it better" selves we insist we can control part of something.

We are control freaks.  How do you know?  When you have a melt down.  The melt down is a sure sign of your controlling self.

If we want to live like vacation, we do need to pare down our lives and follow step #4: Knock out the unproductive.

We also need to use the principle of wiggle room.

Also there is one "control factor" that helps you return your life back to you, when we tend to pile our lives full with what other people want.  This is the principle of taking control of your plate.

So, this sounds as if I am contradicting myself, but there is a part of control that is actually a self discipline.  The principle of taking control of your plate is about not overloading your schedule.  It is about prioritizing and not taking on things that are going to be harmful to you and your family because over scheduling is unhealthy.

So, let's get back to the question of the day. Living like vacation means we are not escaping life but enriching our daily lives.

While you are involved in the world, are you trying to control the world or inspire the world?

30 Days Ago I Started a Blog

30 days ago I wrote about my vacation wake up call.

As soon as I came back from a very rare opportunity to visit a warmer climate and have a full week off with nothing on my mind, I resorted back to an insane life.

That's slightly exagerated.  It was not totally insane but as soon as I got off the plane I was back to my hyperactive self.  As soon as the phone began to ring I was unraveling my calm brain trying to bend over backwards for who?  Myself I guess because I am generally an over-pleaser.  Then, I was completely exhausted the next day.

Enough of my complaining.  I saw such a dramatic change between the vacation me and the back to normal life me, I had to reclaim the vacation me and incorporate the vacation me into the everyday life.  I wanted to make daily living more than checking of a to do list and being the family taxi service.

I want to live like vacation.

That does not mean sit on the beach homeschooling my child and working some amazing home business that provide barrels of cash to my bank account.  That could be in the future, but does not sound realistic to me.

Right now I am taking small baby steps at living a less scrambled life that has more calm so I can be a better health care practitioner for my practice members and have enough energy left to be a fun mom and wife.

So, here I already see my big fault here.  I need to be an awesome wife and mother first.  Then, have some left over energy for my private practice.  How did I get so brainwashed?

Time to get un-brain-washed and live like vacation.

Yes, things need to get done.  I have to raise a young boy and help him become a decent grown up.  Yes, we have bills to pay so we are not a burden to others.  Yes, hubby and I need to have a life together that doesn't include work, bills, repairs, errands, babysitting, etc.

So a mind shift took place because I saw the different side of me while I was on vacation.  And I saw that side of me lost suddenly back in the weeds.

So, the mind-set shift continues.
The habits change.  In ways this is becoming a health makeover although I have not noted too much of that since the blog began.

Based on the principle of the domino effect.  Good habits have a ripple effect in multiple areas of life.

Anything that helps you reclaim your energy gives you better mileage.  So, these initial baby-steps are leading to other goals that are more far reaching than getting everyone out the door on time.

So buckle up and enjoy the ride with me.

Live Like Vacation Traits in Action

In my facebook feed I caught an article about Gregg Jarrett's return to the anchor chair after some embarrassing media moments last year. It really is a nice happy ending story to read about when when the news is filled with depressing tragedies.

Understandably, we are only seeing Mr. Jarrett big smile a year later.  We were not privy to the day to day struggles he had to overcome and that he continues to work on.  Living life is a process. He must still go to therapy and meetings.  Every day he is working on his health.

There are some good lessons here we can also relate to:

1.  What you do has a domino effect on others.  For Mr. Jarrett he was impacting his family in a negative manner for a while.  Now, he is going in the other direction.  His boss, Roger Ailes made some sacrifices himself as he stood by his employee and stayed with him during every step of his trials.  His actions, also had a domino effect on Mr. Jarrett, as well.  And Mr. Jarrett very graciously acknowledges Mr. Ailes commitment.  We can make our work joyful to ourselves and others.  Recognize Step #5 here?

2.  Your everyday health and long term health both need good daily habits.  You cannot put your health on autopilot.  You can never take your health for granted.  As a health care practitioner I must stress that the body works very profoundly balancing important metabolic processes.  While things seem to work automatically and your body bounces back pretty well after a splurge at the donut shop, nights drinking with friends, or weeks of staying up until 1 AM, the body will eventually buckle under the stress.  Mr. Jarrett demonstrates this and he is working hard on his daily habits.  Step #2 is here.

I'll let him tell you his side of the story here.