Month: February 2016

Live like you were dying ~ Tim McGraw

Lisa Pickering
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Yasawa Islands – Fiji

I have friends in town who are here on an exchange from Australia. It is so inspiring to watch them take full advantage of the year that they have here in Canada. Additionally my friends who are on the opposite end of the exchange – Canadians in Australia for a year – are doing much the same.

They know that they are in a country, far from their own, one they may not get back to anytime soon. They are doing and seeing everything North American! They landed in Toronto, drove to Cobourg and within days were off exploring. We joke that they do things that we haven’t even done… although it’s not really a joke, it’s true… I’ve yet to visit Washington or Sandbanks, curl in a bonspiel or skate on the Rideau Canal.

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It made me realize that this is such an amazing way to live life. To have deadlines to get things done. Their deadline is a little more concrete as it involves a flight back home. I’m not suggesting that we all try to get everything done in a year. There are cost restraints, it’s probably not sustainable to do something as regularly as they are, however it is a good model, to take advantage of the time that we have.

I love Tim McGraw’s song – Live like you were dying. I mean, it makes me cry, but I’ve always loved the message:

I went sky diving, I went rocky mountain climbing,
I went two point seven seconds on a bull named Fu Man Chu.
And I loved deeper and I spoke sweeter,
And I gave forgiveness I’d been denying.
And he said: Some day, I hope you get the chance,
To live like you were dying


Like tomorrow was a gift,
And you got eternity,
To think about what you’d do with it.
And what did you do with it?
And what can I do with it?
And what would I do with it? 

Don’t let years go by without seeing the places of your dreams or trying new activities. Plan it out. What EPIC adventures can you schedule this year? Next year? We may not have a flight home booked, but we also don’t have unlimited time. If you truly want to do things, make a plan and do them!

Don’t live the same year 75 times and call it a life ~ Robin Sharma

 

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Lemon shark – diving in Fiji (photo credit Tim Spano)

 

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Waitomo Caves, New Zealand

 

Writing is a socially acceptable form of getting naked in public ~ Paulo Coelho

Lisa Pickering
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Sedona, Arizona

This quote sums up exactly how I feel about writing. I feel vulnerable every time I publish a post. It’s much easier now than when I started but I still have to take a deep breath before I click the “Publish” button.

It is a strange concept that I’m not quite used to yet. There are people reading my posts who I don’t speak to on a regular basis. They know what’s going on with me but I have no idea what’s going on with them. In fact, there are people reading my posts who I don’t even know!

As I have been enjoying writing, I decided to take a course (something I haven’t done in about 15 years!) I found a Travel Writing Course online. Travel. Writing. I think I might like this.

My last writing course was Grade 4 Creative Writing so I had no idea what to expect. My first assignment was due last week. I am hard on myself and I don’t take criticism very well (I’m working on it). So before I submitted the assignment I told myself that this course was just for fun. I know nothing about writing really, so I should expect constructive feedback. The mark doesn’t matter. This is what I told myself in preparation for a really bad mark and the instructor laughing at me.

I was very pleasantly surprised when I got my mark for the first assignment. 83! There were a lot of comments, which I am very appreciative for. I’m growing, I now want to know how to do better rather than being defensive. Big win!

I did a planning session with my coach a couple of years ago. I remember saying out loud, which in itself scared me, that I wanted to write. I had no idea what that meant. What was I going to write, where was I going to write? I had never really thought about it, but those words came out of my mouth “I want to write”. It was on the whiteboard and he circled it. He said – I like this. I didn’t take any action on this from the planning session. But a couple of years later, here we are. Now, not only am I on blog post #25 but I am also learning the ins and outs of travel writing. (And with one of the highest marks I’ve ever received…I wasn’t a very good student!)

I haven’t received a call from Travel + Leisure yet, but I am only on the first assignment!

What have you been wanting to do? What crazy idea do you have that you’ve been sitting on? Go out and do it!

My nephew was asked recently what he thought about the idea of going to camp for 9 days this summer. His response “Well, I might not like it. But I might like it so why not try?” Pretty smart for an 8 year old.

You don’t write because you want to say something, you write because you have something to say ~ F. Scott Fitzgerald

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you’ve imagined. ~ Henry David Thoreau

Lisa Pickering
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Friday business lunch – Woody’s FL (Check out that blue sky!)

Yesterday I was sitting on the patio at a restaurant in Florida. The sun was shining and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. It wasn’t hot but the sun felt so nice. It was Friday afternoon and I was there discussing business. I was in the moment and appreciated how happy I was to be there. I realized that this is my life, this is my business and years ago this was only a dream.

Since I started working 19 years ago, I never liked the idea of sitting at a desk all day. It’s not that I didn’t want to do the work, it’s that I wanted to do it my way. I would get the work done but I wanted to have flexibility in my schedule. I wanted to be able to take a Friday off and I would stay late another day or work on the weekend. I wanted to travel. I knew what I wanted. It took me many years to get it. But I have it now. I am truly living the dream, my dream.

There are people who question whether or not I actually work. I assure you I work! There are days when I work 14 hours. I am often in the office on Sundays. Most of what I do I can do from anywhere if I have my computer, wifi and my phone. And so, I often work remotely.

People have dreams about how they want to live their life. They probably have different dreams than me, not everyone wants to be away as much as I do. But everyone has dreams, even if they are deep inside and they don’t necessarily realize what they are yet. I encourage you to think about what you truly want your life to be like. What is your definition of “living the dream”? It might seem overwhelming to you right now. It probably seems impossible. But you CAN make it happen. I did.

For a long time I didn’t believe that it would ever be real, but here we are.

I extend trips and enjoy a couple of extra days seeing sights or having a relaxing day at the beach or the pool (my two favourite places). I work all morning from a hotel lobby and visit friends in the afternoon. I go to visit clients and spend the evening exploring a new town. I make opportunities out of the work that I do.

I think the idea that these dreams could become reality, first occurred to me 12 years ago when I wanted to travel around the world. It seemed like a lofty idea. I had a job. How was I going to travel around the world for 4 months? Many people told me it wasn’t possible. Well, I asked! I asked my employer if I could take a four month leave of absence… and they said yes. I got to travel around the world, see interesting places, have amazing experiences and when I returned home I had a job to go back to. Now, I shouldn’t say it was as simple as just asking. I did some prep work. I chose a time that would be beneficial for the company. I determined how all of the work would be covered. I had the answers to their questions before I proposed the idea. Being able to take this adventure made me realize that dreaming big is awesome and living your dream is not impossible.

Don’t dream your life, live your dream!