Aloha, and welcome to Episode 35 of Life On the Brink!
For those of you who might not know, my husband Josh and I just celebrated our first anniversary with a late honeymoon to Hawaii. Since our wedding last year (there was NO travelling, if you recall), we’ve been waiting to find the right time, then all of a sudden about a month ago we made plans rather quickly. With upcoming school schedules and different commitments in the fall, we found we had a short window. We thought, why not now? Let’s go to Hawaii!
I'm a planner, I love to plan. So I spent those four or five weeks researching and looking things up, listening to podcasts and finding out all we would need to know for our trip. It's very easy for me to over plan (perhaps you’re like that as well), but hey, planning a vacation is like half the fun. However, on this trip I willed myself not to plan every day out ahead of time. I wanted to give us options and some wiggle room, and let me tell you, it really helped make our trip more relaxing and even more special. Some of the best moments of this trip were during times when we were just sort of winging it, and we just did something and it turned out to be so much better than I could have planned it.
So today I just want to share a special story of something that happened during this trip to encourage you (and myself) to let go a little bit.
What’s in my teacup? This island breakfast tea by the Hawaiian Natural Tea company. I took it from my hotel.
Now, I don’t want to give away the story, so go ahead and listen starting at 5:25 to get the full picture, or click here for the full transcript for this episode.
**spoilers: waterfalls, pineapples, shrimp, then I ended up swimming right next to a sea turtle!**
There were so many moments along this trip where I just had to look around and think, “I can’t believe I’m here, I never could have planned this moment!”
I share all of this to say that even though I know we’re all headed into new ventures, the new school year, the change of a season. And when I get stressed by all the things, it’s easy to go into panic mode, to regiment everything, schedule everything, just to be on top of it all. But I would encourage you (and myself) to leave room this season. Obviously we have responsibilities and scheduling is helpful, but there’s no need to know exactly how each day will play out because:
1. It’s impractical. You can’t know everything that will happen. Personally, when I’m very sure that something will go one way and then it goes the other, it can rattle me. It’s better when I don’t obsess over the details.
2. There are so many beautiful things in this world to enjoy that you might not even know about yet. Being open to the world and participating in life, rather than trying to control every aspect, is not only freeing but much more helpful, I think.
I also want to share the fact that, even though at times during this trip I would get bummed out thinking of having to come back home and face responsibilities, I still did love coming home. Maybe it had something to do with us missing our connecting flight in Chicago and having a full 24 hours of travel time just to get back home, but I know it also had to do with the fact that I have cultivated a place that feels like home, like me and Josh, and is a joy to live in.
Even on the brink (or even after) the huge highs, the sea turtles and Hawaiian sunsets, it’s the small, daily rituals that make being home in my own life enjoyable.
Very quickly I want to mention some changes to the schedule for the coming fall season. I’ll be returning to an every-other-week (bi-weekly?) schedule, so you can expect a new episode on August 19th. I want to be able to maintain the level of excellence and enjoyability as I enter this busy school year, and I look forward to bringing you lots more episodes!
What I’m Listening To: Melelana, an album by Hawaiian artist Keali’i Reichel. I Shazamed track #3 when it came on the radio and found this album over in Hawaii. It’s the perfect end-of-summer vibe and just so happy.
Thank you so much for listening! I'll continue to share photos from this trip over on Instagram. Feel free to leave a comment or reach out, let me know how you liked this Storytime episode!
Until next time, have a lovely week, friends. Mahalo.