I'm sitting in a coffee shop at London's Heathrow Airport on our way back from the most wonderful trip we have ever had.
My overriding feeling is exhaustion - we've been traveling for the last 20 hours and we still have another 10 hour flight plus 4 hour drive until we get home - mixed with sprinkles of sadness, excitement and intense focus.
Let me explain...
For the longest time, I craved my holidays. I would keep a mental countdown going from the day we booked the tickets until the day we set off, merely existing while awaiting the 7-14 days where I could live. Now I look back on that whole part of my early adulthood and think WHAT THE FUCK??! How on earth did I live my life that way? Why did I think it was ok to spend 50 weeks of an entire year waiting for my life to happen? When did I come to my senses?
I honestly don't have the answers to those first two questions but the last is an easy one because it was pretty recently; 5 years ago, I decided that if I wasn't working to make my own dreams come true, I was working for somebody else to realize theirs and that didn't sit well with me. I set up my own company (funnily enough, in the business of helping others realize their full potential and chase down their dreams) and, through a very non-linear path, I have arrived at a place where I don't have to take a holiday from my life!
Let that sit with you for a second - when you are so looking forward to a long weekend or a trip away, are you excited because you want to embrace the moments with loved ones or discover new things or are you desperate to 'get away' from the day-to-day of living?
Seriously, think about it.
My realization came after a lot of self-exploration and deciding what I wanted my life to be for. That certainly was not (and will never be) to clock in every day to a job that robs me of my soul, pay bills and die. I gained the confidence to know that my life can be whatever I want it to be and that it's never too late to make a change and take control of my future. This is one of the most important messages that I share with my clients that takes our journeys together way beyond the health and fitness realm. When you can re-gain control of your existence, no matter what it is that initially lights that fire, that influence is all encompassing and nothing is ever the same.
So, while sad that we have just stepped away from the most idyllic and peaceful place we have ever had the privilege to experience, I am coming home even more fired up about what I am creating our lives to be, Because I am living my life by my design, creating growth and stability in my domestic business that is all about positively influencing others, working to build an international arm to my organization that will continue to transform lives, and doing all this while still being able to have quality time with the people I love, I am focused and determined to do what I need to do to continue to LIVE! Taking a holiday shows me what I work hard for - experiences, moments, FREEDOM - and so with every trip we take, I live my life harder on both sides; work and play always rolling together to the point where I often struggle to distinguish where one ends and the other begins!
I felt very compelled to put all these thoughts somewhere that could be seen (instead of them being a jumble in my head), perhaps because I have hopes that I can plant a seed in the mind of whoever takes the time to read the words that I just vomited on this page!
Your life is yours and you get one. Why do so many people live in this cycle of Monday - Thursday despondence, followed by Friday euphoria, feeding into Saturday exhilaration, capped off with Sunday despair? It doesn't have to look that way and you have the power to rewrite the story.
Sabs xxx
