Coming to You From England

This morning I’m coming to you from England 🇬🇧. Honestly, I can hardly believe I’m saying that. Every morning for a week now, I wake up and leave various hotel rooms to hear the British accents of the people walking by, and still can hardly believe we’re here, in England, finally taking the trip we’ve dreamed about for so long — a trip to celebrate my graduating senior, our first family trip to England, a trip we’ll remember for a lifetime.

I can’t even begin to describe how wonderful it’s been. Truly. Sitting here in a small English village sipping a cup of Earl Grey while I write this to you, I honestly feel like if someone could pack up my clothes and our kitty cat and ship them over here, I might just stay forever. (I go through this stage every time I travel, by the way—it’s probably why I’ve lived in so many different places and what led to me traveling full-time in an Airstream with my family for 7 years.)

But, there’s a reason I’m sharing all of this here on the blog, so I’ll get to it —

If you’ve done any sort of traveling before, you know there are a lot of triggers anytime you leave your comfort zone, especially when you’re leaving for a week or more, especially when you’re crossing multiple time zones, and especially when you’re responsible for kiddos (even if they’re big, tall teenagers or adults) — and now I would add, especially when you and your partner and those kiddos lose a night’s sleep thanks to crossing all those time zones.

Since May is Mental Health Awareness Month, I’ll go ahead and say it — If you’re someone who has to think about your mental health or the mental health of a loved one and you love to travel, you know those triggers extremely well.

So this morning, even though I have a whole list of stories, books, and personal growth ideas stacked up in my notes, on my computer, and swirling around in my mind that I had planned on sharing with you today, I don’t have a lot to say.

The dust will settle when I get home in a few hours and all of those ideas will come rushing at me, I know it. But for now, I’ll just share the one thing that’s helped me this week — a mantra that’s been helping me a lot for several months now actually (first originated from a book by Ram Dass, as far as I can tell). It’s this:

BE

HERE

NOW

& then, slow it down. . .

Be.

Here.

Now.

& then again. . .

BE

HERE

NOW

It sounded so simple the first time I heard someone talk about it, but the more and more I practice it, whether I’m traveling or at home, playing or working, doing family stuff or just being me, the more profound it becomes—and the more it helps in all sorts of ways.

I hope you’ll join me in practicing it today.

💛

And because I know so many of you originally came to this blog for all things travel-related, here are a few of my favorite photos from our trip to England ⤵

Want more positive chit-chat like this?