The Best Gifts Aren’t the Shiny Ones

Now, I love a good shiny gift, don’t get me wrong. Like the perfect silver chain with a heart charm that my friend Carol gave me… Or the beautiful silver pearl charm, with a little dangly diamond on it that my sister Maureen gave me!

But sometimes it’s the ones you just have to dust off a bit to remember how truly valuable they are. Family is SO important and treasured, but I believe it’s the friends in our lives that provide total enrichment. With *true* friends, you don’t have to put on a face… You don’t have to pretend that everything is ok! And, even if life is mostly great, it is your friends who will listen and try to help you with what is not. It’s a safe and fair place to vent because your friends—especially those you’ve had most of your life—know your history and what makes you tick. You don’t have to re-explain your past in order to help them understand your present. Perhaps they will provide you some insight that you didn’t have before? Or, at worst, they will have listened and maybe helped you give yourself the insight you needed. Being listened to is sometimes all you need.

I truly love my friends in San Diego and they help to enrich my life on a regular basis. But these aren’t the people who know it all! It is difficult to live so far away from my close childhood friends whom I’ve known for 26-35 years. But we always pick up right where we left off and I treasure the time I get with them. We all need to make an effort to reach out and to see each other more… Life gets in the way for all of us for different reasons and it’s my hope that we will make more time.

It’s the gift of friendship that I need to remind myself to collect on because it doesn’t cost a penny, but gives so much in return. Let’s all resolve to approach 2011 with the intention of dusting off those awesome friendships and keeping them as shiny as we can.

The Art of Doing Nothing

So many trips... So many events... "What a job" I have, most people say...

And yet, I've been in search of the ultimate "do nothing" time - I needed a true vacation! A year ago I went on a trip to Waikiki by myself and it was beyond wonderful. I purposefully didn't schedule anything... No tours or anything. Each day I woke up when I wanted, went to the beach when I wanted, and ate WHEREVER I wanted! I did all of that and I met some very interesting people along the way. The only thing wrong with that trip was that it wasn't long enough. It was last year while I was gone that my sister Maureen was inspired to book a trip to Maui his December. I was already looking forward to the trip!

My job is intense. My job requires all of me at most times. I've ALWAYS been a vacation person, but since I began this job, I've never needed vacations so badly. In May I took a 15 day trip to Europe... The least relaxing vacation ever! While it was fantastic, and I relaxed in bits and pieces, I was almost constantly on the go because I wanted to see as much as I could in the time that I had (the original plan, btw, was to lay on the beach in Greece for 2 weeks!).

Being on the go non-stop for work takes its toll, so I would typically be inclined to stay home on my "time off", but the only way to do NOTHING, to completely disconnect from my life, is to get away... And tropical getaways are the best. On my way to Maui this trip, one of the movie choices was "Eat, Pray, Love". It was like a sign from God. Recently my friend Michelle (when having dinner with her in Tampa while on a work trip) told me I should write a book and she sited that movie when she said it (likely a blog topic for another time!). I knew what the movie was about generally, but didn't know the total of it until I was on my way this week.  The lead character speaks of the art of doing nothing and it sang to me. It truly is an art for people who are constantly going, going, going... Whether that "going" is for professional or personal reasons (both for me), it becomes difficult to stop and do "nothing."

The past six months have been incredibly difficult. Though also full of wonderful times on my own and with great friends and family... It's also been full of great loss. I've been a successful sales person over the past several years, which has been a huge blessing. Especially after becoming a sales person on accident and never truly feeling like a "sales" person... Having success felt like magic (despite knowing how hard I work). But over the past six months, I worked harder than ever and I could not win a deal. Combine that with the loss of my brother, and it has been HARD.

I finally won a deal about two weeks before my "do nothing" vacation... Truly small when you look at what I've sold in the past two years, but it felt like both a million dollar deal and like a HUGE weight had been lifted off my shoulders. Most people don't believe in symbolism, but I do. I've had not one, but THREE butterflies fly in front of my face in the past three weeks... I thought "new beginnings!", "that's a sign!" after the first one... And now I'm convinced. The last one flew by me on the final day of my "do nothing" vacation.

I have to believe that good things also come in threes... And that I am closing in on all the good and new beginnings that are meant to come my way (both professional *and* personal). Cheers to the art of doing nothing and the fantastic things that will come after mastering that art (oh, and I did this week - cheers to me:-)