Road Trippin

Oct 3

I want to drive the bus - I don’t want to be a leaf blowing in the wind. I want to make decisions about my own life. – Angela Beloian

Yesterday Ed and I returned home from a week-long trip on the road. Just the two of us with Luna our 6-year old yellow lab, and Abbi our new 4-month old rescue puppy.

In last week’s Victory Letter, I shared about planning (hello Q4) and shared that we were going on a trip to plan for the future. However, we didn’t end up planning, we ended up doing the most important thing that needs to happen way before any planning happens – dreaming.

Dreaming what we actually wanted to envision our life to be like moving forward now that Ed has retired from Corporate America and I am still active in my business, and will be for the unforeseen future as I love my work. And from here we will begin planning the steps that will actually allow our new dreams to come to life.

Now of course I can’t share with you what our dreams are because they are personal to us right now, but they are good and juicy, exciting and scary, all the while making us smile and have lots of hope for tomorrow. Hope is a powerful feeling to feel. And perhaps most importantly the process has deepened our 37 year relationship.

So, I thought this morning I would share the top elements of dreaming along with pictures of the incredibly beautiful fall foliage we were able to enjoy in Northeastern Colorado and up into the Wind River mountains of Wyoming.

Top 7 elements of Dreaming while Road Trippin

Element 1 - Enjoy the opportunity to get away from your day-to day environment so you can open your mind to think differently. If at all possible, get into nature. Whether it’s hiking or driving, or both.

Element 2 - Leave your Inner Critic at home. Yeah, there is no room for that part of your mind to come along because, though trying to protect you, it can really play havoc with the dreaming process.

Element 3 - Bring some whimsey with you if possible. I brought a bouquet of flowers from my garden and art supplies to do some sketching. While we never actually got to the sketching it was fun to know it was there. The flowers lasted the entire trip!

Element 4 - Eat great food! Since we were staying in two different cabins along our journey, we were able to bring good healthy food to cook and eat. We loved the food inspiration from breakfast, to picnic lunches, to amazing dinners all prepared by the two of us.

Element 5 - Have the most important conversations either with yourself or your partner. Both verbally and in writing. Remember writing opens up the unconscious mind and is there for a later date.

Element 6 - Make the time to move your body and getting the oxygen flowing. We worked out, went on hikes with the dogs and even ran along the shoreline of the lake where we were staying in Wyoming.

Element 7 - Be adventurous and travel to places you haven’t been before or see places in a new way. You don’t have to go far as we discovered just hours away in the intimate privacy of our own car. This is why I love road trippin because it actually does make it about the journey not just the destination.

I hope you have enjoyed these pics and ideas. Now let the dreaming come to life! And as today’s intro quote shares that I heard on the Are You Waiting for Permission Podcast (Episode 28) and prepare to drive your own bus.