Navigating the Current Rollercoaster

With the uncertain times we are living, we’re experiencing extensive lifestyle changes. I’ve found my emotional balance has been more like navigating a roller coaster. Like many of you, my husband and I have been in this somewhat isolated bubble over eight weeks now. For someone who strives to find balance in each day, it’s been best for me to stick to a routine, remind myself that it is my choice to follow or not follow the news, find better ways of doing things I find stressful, focus on whatever it is I am doing, and surprise myself along the way.

Routine
I am at my best following a routine of waking, sleeping, eating, and exercising. And quite frankly, that goes for most people. It keeps me on track and helps me prepare for the ups, downs ahead.

Newsworthy
I’ve been doing my due diligence and checking in with news items once in awhile. This keeps me up on what I need to know. Otherwise, too much information leads to information overload, stress, and feeling as if I had the weight of the entire world on my back while going through a loop-de-loop. I know what’s happening, I’m not ignoring that, but I don’t need to know EVERYTHING!

There’s got to be a better way!
The whole grocery shopping thing has really been an issue for everyone. What’s available, what’s not available, and doing everything we can to not bring home this damn virus. It’s very stressful! A few weeks ago, I found myself saying rather loudly, there’s got to be a better way! So, we are now shopping at our local grocery stores on-line and picking up our order a few days later. This one thing has relieved a whole lot of stress and craziness and keeps me on a straighter track.

Focus, Focus, Focus
Mindfulness with full focus on whatever I am doing keeps me calm and centered and ready for the curves ahead. I’ve tackled spring cleaning and once again embraced feng shui thinking now that I’m no longer traveling full time. Cleaning and organizing creates a welcome sense of calm when mindfulness is considered. These are things I should do at some point anyway, and there’s no time like the present.

Surprise!
Even within a routine oriented world, I change things up regularly. It’s never same old, same old for me. And that’s become very important these last two months because it is a definite bright spot to what could be an endless series of loops. I may run, walk, lift weights, do my yoga/pilates. I may cook up or bake something I haven’t had in years. I may call friends or family instead of emailing or texting just to have that good-old real voice connection. It’s not only a break in my routine, it’s a surprise for them. Here’s the thing, surprise may be planned or spur of the moment, but right now it’s more important than ever to have that bright spot in my day.

And one more thing - a little something I remind myself when I need an extra lift...

During the hard times of my life I have learned more about myself and become stronger.

Stay safe and take care!

Michelle

Rollercoaster photo - no copyright infringement is intended 

One Hellish Bitch of a Stinker

We’re well into January and it’s about time I get back to writing my posts with more regularity. In my last post I mentioned our move from the Pacific Northwest to Arizona, and now I can honestly say we’re feeling more at home in the last two months. While the building craziness has settled down for us, there continues to be a bit of chaos as we approach the end of a backyard project – from sand to hardscape. Some days have been a bit trying through the whole move and build process, but I have glimpses of a more settled existence. I had to laugh when I checked the word trying in the Apple computer thesaurus...

Trying: stressful, difficult, taxing, demanding, tough, hard, heavy; pressured, testing, frustrating, fraught traumatic, arduous, grueling; tiring, fatiguing, exhausting, wearing; informal hellish, a bitch of a, a stinker.

All of the thesaurus words describe what I felt at one time or another over the last 7 months, but I particularly like the informal - hellish bitch of a stinker. I removed the commas and that about summoned up the entire experience.

As for me, I’m always glad to put a wrap on one year and begin a new year. I love the feeling of closure even if I’ve had an amazing year, and an amazing mixed bag of a year it was. I experienced the northern lights in a bucket list worthy way on the water along the coast of Norway. I took on a move of 1,500 miles to a completely different state and climate. With the build of a house I made more decisions than a person should have to make in a short period of time. I met new people, rekindled old relationships, made new friends, and lost my mother along with a few other people who had touched my life at one time or another. And you know what? I’m still here focusing on what's positive because with all the ups and downs this was a huge growth year for me.

And now, a new year is guiding me to the possibilities, prospects, and opportunities ahead. These positive words are speaking to me these days and I feel I now have space in my life to welcome them rather than setting them aside for another time. The time is now. Welcome to my year of new possibilities. What will they be? What will your possibilities, prospects, and opportunities be? Don’t set them aside for another time! Join me as we begin a new decade and leave the hellish bitch of a stinker behind!

Be well, Michelle

Possibilities photo courtesy of Damian Godal

Going Left

When nothing goes right, go left

Unknown

For months now, my husband and I have been all set to fly to Oslo, Norway with plenty of time allowed for connecting flights in order to slow the pace of a long travel day. We had even gone to the airport to stay at a nearby hotel the night before - again, to slow the pace. While we’ve done our share of flying over the years, we’ve had very few issues - until, that is, a major weather system (as in massive blizzard) moved into the mid-west which included Denver, Colorado (where our flight from Seattle, Washington was scheduled to go). In what was being called a winter cyclone bomb, all flights going into and out of Denver were canceled on our arrival day as well as the following morning. But, our connecting flight to London, England in the afternoon was still on schedule. Going left anyone?

Not knowing what Mother Nature had up her sleeve, instead of flying to Denver, we spent the day Googling our little hearts out for connections to get us into Oslo. We settled on flying out the next day to Salt Lake City, Utah with a 2-hour layover then fly into Oakland, California where we had a 4-hour layover. This all went well. We boarded the plane in Oakland, which was already running late. As the plane pulled away from the gate, a passenger had a medical emergency which added an additional hour delay. What to do? Go left, be patient, and hope the passenger is okay. We’re happy to report she was.

When the flight arrived in Paris, we had just missed our connection to Oslo. We were moved to the next flight 8-hours later. There was a bit of time taken to explain this to the twenty some passengers flying to Oslo, and then we were off to find our luggage. We’ve flown in and out of the Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris a few times previously and it's not our favorite airport by any means. There’s not a lot of places to just hang out until we could check in 2-hours before the flight, drop our bags, and go through security. Okay, big left here as we were exhausted by this time. With patience we focused on how we could turn this bit of information around. So, we stopped in at one of the hotels at the airport and got a room for a few hours. This allowed us to take a short nap and freshen up a bit.

Bleary eyed, we made our way onto the flight and landed in Oslo 34 hours after we left for Salt Lake City. It was nearly 11 pm in Oslo (about 11 hours later than our original plans and much too late to make our way to our lodgings), so going left once again we thought we would grab a bed at an airport hotel. But a dear friend of ours who lives nearby insisted on picking us up and delivered us into her cozy home to sleep for the night. Other than the naps we grabbed when we could, by the time we hit the sheets we had been up for nearly 38 hours!

The following day, we were driven to our lovely Airbnb home a day later than originally planned, but very glad to finally be there safe and somewhat sound. How did we manage all this? By going left! And going left generally requires patience with a capital P. Something we always make sure we pack first and foremost! Being patient allowed us to make good decisions and focus on what was going right – being able to make last minute flight changes, the fact there wasn’t something more serious going on with the medical emergency, quiet private airport lounges away from the crowds, the kindness of strangers at airport and hotel restaurants so I could continue to refrigerate my medication at the proper temperature range, flying into Paris and having fantastic pistolette sandwiches along with giant macarons, and friends who love us even late at night! So maybe, just maybe, going left was what was meant all along, and it all comes around in the end...

Michelle

3D arrow courtesy of FreepiK

A Bedtime Story

Remember the fairy tale of the Princess and the Pea? Basically, the best way to know you have a princess on hand is to send her to bed on a stack of mattresses with a pea at the very bottom. If she has a rough night sleeping, you’ve got yourself a princess. You might find it interesting to know that I’m one of those princesses, and I can tell you that a bad night’s sleep is never good for a princess. You might be wondering how I can travel fulltime if I’m that sensitive to mattresses?

Well, there are times when I’m feeling more like Goldilocks of Goldilocks and the Three Bears fame. She tried Papa Bear’s, Mama Bear’s, and Baby Bear’s bed in an attempt to determine what mattress was just right. With no home or bed of my own, I roam from bed to bed in my chosen nomadic lifestyle. The Princess and the Goldilocks in me are questioning this whole travel thing, because many times the beds are definitely not just right, and you cannot fool a princess when it comes to uncomfortable mattresses – no way, no how, never.

I try to make each home as comfortable as possible and that includes the bed, because I know how important sleep is for keeping healthy. So, I flip, turn, and cover the mattress with extra blankets, but it doesn’t always help. If there's more than one bedroom, I try different beds - just like good old Goldilocks. I peruse the reviews of previous occupants for comments regarding the good, the bad, and the ugly of anyplace I might be interested in staying. High on the list are the mattress comments – even though mattress comfort is subjective. But it's a little frustrating if I am going to be staying in a place for weeks when the bed is not just right. I should mention that it’s not always a scary bedtime story for me. There are times when I have extremely comfortable mattresses that are just right.

For now, I’m asking the Princess and the Goldilocks in me to adapt as much as possible and prop herself up with pillows if necessary. I’m dealing with bad mattress back syndrome by doing my best to overcome my aches with stretching, yoga, frozen bags of green peas, and my trusty travel size TENS unit (Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation which relieves muscle tension). This traveling lifestyle is not a permanent change, so I keep promising Princess Goldilocks the most perfectly comfortable bed in all the land when she has a home of her own again.

I may be longing for a comfortable mattress, but with this nomadic lifestyle I’m living, I’m finding my way by continually trying to adapt to whatever comes my way, and that includes one mattress at a time. The good news, or should I say the happy ending to this post, I’m usually not at any location for long, so there’s always hope that the next mattress will be juuust right.

Michelle

Once upon a time photo courtesy of Steve Czajka