I am on week six of a 3 and-a-half week road trip. As you know from last month, I set off on a trip across America from my home in Las Vegas. It was only supposed to last 24 days, a month at the very most. By the time I get home it will be past 6 weeks. I realized that being gone for even just a month would most certainly be a challenge for me financially as well as emotionally to be away from my pets and home, but I figured it might be a once in a lifetime opportunity and I should take advantage of it, so I wrapped my mind around it and off I went.

Three weeks in, it became clear to me that I would not be getting home for almost double the time I expected to be gone, and inside I began to feel stressed and anxious. I battled within my own mind trying to figure out how to get the peace I started out with. I missed my home and dogs, and felt bad about missing events I had committed to before I left. I was also in extreme heat and didn't even want to be outside, so I started to feel claustrophobic.

The more I thought about it, the more stressed I became. I realized that my stress was coming from feeling out of control of my life, and that is something I had not felt for a very long time. I didn't share my negative feelings, I didn't want to sound like I was whining. I was sad and would cry in private, but that didn't change anything in me.

I felt angry, and that made me feel even worse. I missed the things that would seem silly to other people, like my hair colorist (I even cried over my hair color being ruined out on the road) and my work-outs (I had just started working out after a 3 month absence from a broken foot). Some might say those things are small, but I didn't care, they are important to me and that's what matters. I learned that though I am very spontaneous, I am also a creature of habit and routine and I like my routine. Take a home-body whose never taken a real vacation out of her new home on the road for the better part of seven weeks and she's going to unravel a little!

One day I was praying about my feelings and I wondered what I could do to make myself feel better. And then it hit me. Wait a minute! I'm the person who is always showing other people their options! So I took my own advice. "And so it is," I said to myself. And I changed the way I was looking at things. I began to focus on the good. After all, I was able to spend six weeks of uninterrupted time with my fantastic boyfriend, and he is really fun. I got to have "movie night" every night in the motor home and see all the movies I had missed over the last few years. I got to see all kinds of little towns I would never have seen, and slept 9 hours a night. I got to see a few friends along the way, and that's always good. I got to see Colorado, the most beautiful place in the USA and I got to see sunsets not to be believed. My genius hair colorist Sue would fix my hair color when I get back. I could focus on work as soon as I returned. Everything would still be there.

When I began to re-frame my thoughts, my anxiety went away. My stress lowered. When I went into acceptance, instead of mentally fighting what simply was, I felt a complete return to peace. My sadness lifted, my anger disappeared. I began to look forward to the last leg of the trip with excited anticipation. You see, anxiety and negative emotions come from fighting what is. When you are in a situation or place that you do not intend to change, then getting in flow is the choice to make. We get ourselves tied up in knots when we fight something instead of accepting it and making it work for us. Things change when we do. As you know, I talk about perspective all the time, and damn if it isn't truer than true! When we change the way we look at things, the things we look at change.

In a week, I will be home in The Heaven On Earth Lodge in My beloved Las Vegas with my sweet dogs, getting my hair color restored, my nails nice again, my butt kicked in the gym, and back to the work that I love. I will catch up with the friends whose events I missed and love on them as I always do. And best of all, I will look back on this trip with joy and gratitude that I got to take it. I learned a lot about myself and how using the things I teach actually do work. : )

I even want to do this again! Except next time I'll make it a working trip and see what that's like!

Until then, I'll be in Las Vegas or on the ranch, and damn will my hair color look good!

Happy trails and Have a great summer!

Love,
Cat