After visiting Zion and Bryce Canyon National Park, we headed back for 2 nights in Salt Lake City before flying back home. We got in during the late afternoon on our first day there, and left early on the last day, so we only had a little more than a full day to explore. In our short time in SLC, here’s what we did:

  • Visited and played at Sugarhouse Park
  • Went to the City Public Library (twice)
  • Explored the Natural History Museum
  • Toured Temple Square
  • Relaxed and played at Liberty Park

As much as we enjoy experiencing the outdoors, exploring new cities is just as fun and exciting. We stayed in the Hotel Monaco, right in the middle of downtown. One of the cool things about this line of hotels is that they will give you a pet goldfish in your room during your stay. The boys loved that!

When we asked for a good place to grab a cup of coffee, the hotel recommended Eva’s, a french bakery, which was across the street basically. That recommendation was spot on, as we ended up going there 3 times in less than 48 hours. Their coffee was incredible, and their breakfast offerings were perfect.

From the tiny bit of reading up I had done before the trip, I knew that the public library was supposed to be really awesome. We decided to go there the first evening in town since it was close by. WHOA…we hit the jackpot there! This library is ah-mazing. Granted, this is coming from a family who could hang out at bookstores all day long for fun.

The SLC library has 5 stories + a basement. Heaven! We stayed there for hours. The boys discovered some Star Wars graphic novels they had never seen before, and I took the opportunity to try to find books that I have pinned on my Children’s Books Pinterest board, but not found at our local library. They pretty much had all of them! We read and read and read. They did not want to leave, but we eventually had to because it was getting dark.

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Gorging on stories.

The children’s area was similar to our library in some ways, but it was much larger. Also, they they had these cool rooms filled with nooks where kids could go and read. You can see the doorways in the photo below.

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One of the rooms was set up like a giant fort, full of platforms of places kids would like to set up camp with their books.

On the following day, we visited the Natural History Museum of Utah. It was another slam dunk. We spent 3 hours there exploring all of their gorgeous hands-on exhibits. The museum is right up against the foothills above the city, and the architecture is contemporary. I love the juxtaposition of learning about prehistoric animals and rock formations in a building that is so clean and modern.  

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The lobby of the museum.

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The view from the outdoor balcony was gorgeous.

After the museum, we went to Temple Square. Did you know that Utah is the only state in the country that has a dominant religion? In the case of Utah, it is 60% Mormon (a.k.a The Church of Latter Day Saints). Temple Square is a large area in the middle of downtown where the Salt Lake City LDS Temple is located, among many other important buildings for the Church of Latter Day Saints.

The grounds are beyond exquisite! Gorgeous flowers planted everywhere.The visitor’s center is so beautiful and well-appointed. There are many missionaries there available to give you a tour of the buildings, share their history and faith, plus answer any questions you may have. We requested a tour, and had two lovely ladies show us around. We enjoyed learning about their faith and seeing how dedicated they were. I think it was good to have the boys hear from them, and Max even asked some really good questions of Sister Huang. We were very impressed with how well-organized Temple Square was run.

After Temple Square, we ate lunch at Whole Foods at Trolley Square, then headed over for some play time at Liberty Park for some relaxation and play time. One of the things we always look for when traveling with the boys are places where we can take them to unwind and play. We found just that at Liberty Park. We were looking forward to visiting the Aviary there, but it closes at 5pm, and that is just about when we arrived. Definitely want to go back and see it. Nevertheless, we spent about an hour and a half at Liberty Park, watching the kids run, play and make new friends.

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Play time at Liberty Park in SLC.

After the park we headed back to the library downtown by popular request. The next morning was time to leave (but not before another yummy breakfast at Eva’s). There were so many places we still wanted to see. That just means we will have to return 🙂

I have to say, Salt Lake City is a place that truly caters to families while still maintaining a metropolitan feel. I would totally move here! Maybe I am saying this because we visited in Spring and not in the middle of winter. “Kudos” to Salt Lake City for being such a welcoming and vital place to visit.

In the past few years, I have been really opening up to the idea of doing things “online” that are typically done “offline.” For example, I have written about my passion for learning new skills and concepts through podcasts (HERE) and online classes (HERE). This is a huge benefit for me being that we live in a smallish town with very little access to variety and options. Fortunately, this is not as much as the hindrance it used to be due to the sea of options available on the Web.

Here is a sampling of some of my recent ventures online that go beyond online shopping:

Rent the Runway Dress

Renting a dress for an event ONLINE. A while back, I was grumbling to my friend Becca about having to look for and purchase a dress for an evening event. We rarely attend any event that requires us to dress up. So when the occasion arises, I get all stressed out trying to figure out where I am going to find a dress that I like, that fits and doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. As soon as I said this, Becca said, “You should try Rent the Runway!” Huh? Had never heard about it. She told me all about it and I was sold. Apparently this is a big phenomenon, but I freely admit that I live under a rock, so I was clueless. Here’s how it works: You browse through hundreds of dress options which come in every size, style, and occasion you could ever think of. There are tons of reviews and even photos of ‘real’ people that wearing that dress. They send you two different sizes of your chosen dress just to make sure you can choose the one that fits best. They even have accessories! I give Rent the Runway two thumbs up. And I will NEVER buy a dress for an occasion again.

Working with a holistic nutritional counselor ONLINE. I am a big believer that what we put (or don’t put) into our bodies directly affects our health. Several months ago I had some concerns regarding hormonal balance. I did some searching for podcasts, and found a really informative one that had a special guest speaker on the topic. I really liked what she had to say and her approach seemed right for me. So I emailed her, and after an initial phone conversation, I signed up for a one month coaching session with her. It was so beneficial. My main goal was for her to hold my hand through getting bloodwork done to make sure I was getting the right tests, and so she could serve as a second set of eyes to analyze the results. Which she did. But she was much more thorough than that. She then provided a very thorough write-up on her recommendations. Her insight was great and I felt so much more sure having her guidance. Even though she lives in California, her clients are all over the map! How awesome is that?

Hiring a personal trainer ONLINE. Every few months or so, I seem to get in a workout routine rut. I still go to the gym because I don’t ever want to lose the habit, but need something new to surprise my brain. And my muscles. One day, a trainer from Utah that I follow on Instagram posted that she was hosting a “Fit Blast” for the upcoming month. It was basically a month’s worth of workouts and meal plans for $15. You cannot beat that price, so I decided to try it. It was a lot of fun. I didn’t do the meals, but would print out my workout every morning before the gym and would do whatever Jill K wanted me to do. I liked it so much I signed up for an additional month. Now I am on to something new, but I appreciate having that as an option whenever I hit a lull.

Canon Lens

Renting a camera lens ONLINE. Something else I am doing online now is renting camera lenses as the needs arise. If you are familiar with DSLR cameras, you know that the really good lenses are super expensive. And depending on your needs, you might need different lenses. So one thing I have done a couple times now is RENT the lens of my choice. For our upcoming vacation, I wanted to take a good lens. I really wanted the 24-70mm 2.8 lens for its quality & flexibility. However, this lens costs $2,000. YIKES. See why I don’t own this? So I went on BorrowLenses.com, and just rented it for 5% of the cost. Once you’re done, you just pop it back in the mail with the shipping level they provide and you are done!

I realize this may be old hat to many people; doing things online. Have you outsourced anything in your life to online services?  My mind is really opening up to all of the needs that can be met beyond just buying things on the Internet. I really love that no longer am I limited by the professionals and services in my small community. Now I get to enjoy the perks of a small town with the options of a larger one. Although I could really use a Whole Foods….

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After our visit to Zion, our next stop was Bryce Canyon National Park. It was a short drive, about 1.5 hours long. The scenery along the way was very entertaining, and before we knew it, we had arrived. We were booked to stay two nights at The Lodge at Bryce Canyon, right in the park.

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The backyard of the Bryce Canyon lodge still had patches of snow on the ground.

 

I am not sure exactly what I expected it to be like, but I guess from the pictures I thought the two parks would be similar because of the color of the rocks in the photos. They are quite different! First of all, Bryce is extremely remote. Where Zion had the town of Springdale at the entrance, Bryce was pretty much in the middle of nowhere with very few places to eat or purchase supplies. Knowing this ahead of time would have been helpful so that we could have stocked up on food and snacks at the grocery store in Zion before we left there.

Another difference was the temperature. Bryce Canyon is at 8,000 feet, so the temperatures were much cooler than Zion. There are tall Ponderosa Pines everywhere. Add the patches of snow that were all over the grounds, and it looked like the top of a mountain where you would see skiers. But — here’s where it differs. Out of nowhere, the ground just disappears and you see this down below. As far as the eye can see. Very similar to the Grand Canyon I would say.

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Looking down into Bryce Canyon.

 

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Checking out the scenery in the backyard of the Lodge on our first night. There were areas without this fence. Yikes!

You see, Bryce Canyon National Park is not really a canyon. It’s actually a plateau. All the hikes start at the top and you hike down into the hoodoos (that’s those creepy little towers you see everywhere). That is different from Zion in that all the hikes start from the bottom and you hike up.

When we woke up on our first full day, it was Easter Sunday. We tracked down a church that had posted a flyer in the lodge. Thankfully they made it clear that it was “come as you are”. And we did. It was in a tiny town outside of the park called Tropic. And it was a tiny little church, so different than what we are used to. But…we felt so grateful to have somewhere to go to celebrate Easter. Max even attended their children’s church and declared that he would like to come back next week.

After the Easter service, we headed out for a hike into the hoodoos. We did the Navajo Trail and combined it with the Queen’s Garden trail. It took us about 3 1/2 hours. If we didn’t have the kids, it might have been more like 2 hours, but we pretty much let them stop and rest whenever they want to. And we have one that asks to rest quite often 🙂

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Getting ready to go down into the hoodoos.

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Max and Ben enjoyed the natural arches and tunnels on the hike.

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We like to come loaded up with food and water on our hikes. Plenty to keep everyone energized and hydrated. On this hike, we stopped for lunch under the shade of a tree that had some logs around it we could sit on. We made PB&J’s, and used the propane heater to cook up some dehydrated camp meals.

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The boys also planned on getting their Bryce Canyon Junior Ranger badges on this visit. If you remember, the Park Ranger we got in Zion was extremely laid back. Not so much here.  Plus, we found the booklet to be super challenging. Brian walked the boys through many of the pages….and he got stuff wrong! This ranger was no nonsense and not letting anything get past him either. Regardless, we gave him the “we are not leaving this place without a badge” look, and he finally begrudgingly handed them over. Sheesh!

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Max saying his Junior Ranger oath.

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Another Junior Ranger badge for their collection.

The park has a main drive and many different “points” where you can park and see down into the canyon from a variety of vistas and elevations. Something else we did in Bryce was take a drive up through the park to the highest point, Rainbow Point, which was over 9,000 feet in elevation. On the way, we would pass beautiful areas with snow and stopped to let the boys play in it for a while. When we eventually got to Rainbow Point, do you know how COLD & WINDY it was?? We made it for approximately 7 minutes before bolting back into the car. Remember, we are from Florida.

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Bryce is famous for the amount of constellations you can see there. Later that evening, Brian went to check out the stars before the moon came up. There was a full moon during our stay which was gorgeous, but hindered star viewing. We found out there was a window of time, from 9-9:20pm where you could see all the stars before the moon came out. They boys and I missed that because we were cozy in bed. However, the next morning I was determined to see the sunrise over the canyon. So we headed out in the wee hours to see it. It really was stunning, and I highly recommend it!

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The moon was still up as we were waiting for the sunrise.

 

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The glow before the sun peeked out.

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Sunlight starting to fill the canyon.

 

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Sunrise!

Later that morning, we did one last hike, Mossy Cave Trail, before heading out of Bryce. By this time, Max was pretty much “over” hikes. We changed our terminology to “strolling” to see a cave and waterfall, but he was skeptical. Thankfully it was a short one.

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Last hike in Bryce Canyon National Park

 

 

Bryce Canyon National Park was quite the sight. I am so happy we saw it because really, we have never see anything like it. If you have the time to incorporate this park on your trip to Utah, I would definitely recommend going. Here are some tips and recommendations if you would like to visit:

  • Try to stay for at least 1 night. Depending on your pace, 1-2 nights is ideal to get to really experience this park.
  • Stay at the Bryce Canyon Lodge. All you have to do is walk toward the back of it and you can see the massive canyon. We stayed in a building that was set up like a hotel, but there were some really cool cabins too. If you can get one of those, do it!
  • Bring fresh food and snacks with you. The options to eat are very little. There is a sit-down, full-service restaurant in the lodge that serves mediocre quality food. Your other option is a general store that serves convenience store quality food. Nothing in between.
  • Come prepared for big swings in temperature. One of the things I remember learning about Bryce is that the temps go below freezing 200+ days of the year.
  • Check out a sunset and a sunrise. It is worth it!

After Bryce, we headed back to Salt Lake City to enjoy some city time before heading home. I will post a few highlights in another post.

 

 

Zion National Park at Sunset

Zion National Park at Sunset

We just got back from a spring break vacation to Utah. It was a wonderful time to explore and adventure with our little family. While in Utah, we explored Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks. We also spent a few days in Salt Lake City. Our first stop was Zion National Park.

We spent 3 nights in Zion. The first night we stayed at the Desert Pearl Inn, and the next two we camped at the Watchman Campground in the park. We decided to stay the first night in a hotel because we knew we would be coming in from a very early and long flight, followed by an almost 5 hour drive to Zion. So having a comfortable bed and place to just collapse into was important. The Desert Pearl is awesome, and I would highly recommend it to anyone visiting Zion National Park. If we would have stayed there when it was a teeny bit warmer, we definitely would have jumped into their amazing pool. There were a bunch of other options that looked great too. And they were all on the main drive that lead into the park. Everything is pretty much walking distance and on one main drag in that little town of Springdale that is at the entrance of Zion.

After that first night, we set up camp at the Watchman Campground in the park. Why did we camp? Because Brian insists 🙂 He brought all of the gear in one giant duffel bag – tent, sleeping bags, Thermarests, etc. Was it worth all the work? If you ask him, yes. Don’t ask me. Just kidding. The campground had a great location. Very close to the visitor’s center, a river the boys could throw rocks into, and was surrounded by the mountains. The bathroom was super close to us and CLEAN. No showers, which is fine by me.

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Watchman River by our campground. The boys could spend all day throwing rocks and sand in there.

Being that Zion is basically a desert and we come from the land of heat and humidity, camping weather in early April was extremely comfortable. During the day when the sun was high, it did warm up quite a bit. But as soon as the sun would drop behind the mountains it would cool off significantly. The wind seemed to pick up in the very wee hours of the morning and that is what made morning time even colder. Plus, it made it tough to build the campfire. Luckily, we found a great little cafe for breakfast that we liked to go to.

We didn’t have enough room in our luggage to bring the camp stove. Don’t think that Brian didn’t try to bring it, but we had to draw the line somewhere. So all we had was a little propane burner that heated up water. We brought dehydrated camp packets for a few dinners. Meh – not the best, but not the worst.

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Dinner at the campsite.

The boys are extremely comfortable with camping pretty much anywhere, and this was no exception. The only things they brought with them on the trip was a stuffed animal and a sticker book. Besides that, they pretty much spent their time scouting for rocks. Rocks which they then used to build stacks from, smash, or throw into rivers.

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Our campsite at Watchman Campground.

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Waiting for the fire to build up because it got cold quickly.

On our first official full day at Zion, we went on a guided family canyoneering trip with Zion Adventure Company. This was one of several in the area, but the largest and most established. This was a great way to start our time in Zion because we got a half day with an expert in this area. He told us all about the area and we discussed all the pros and cons of the different hikes we planned to take. He then took us out to this big canyon where we had to hike, climb, rappel, squeeze and slide to make our way through. It was awesome! Highly, highly recommend doing one of their trips if you go to Zion.

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After that, we  pretty much spent our time doing various hikes. We did the Hidden Canyon hike which Brian failed to mention was marked Strenuous/Dangerous. You start at the bottom and go up these switchbacks that take you up about 1000 feet up the mountain on a rocky path that is about 3 feet wide with a vertical dropoff to one side that gets higher and higher. By myself, this would be no problem. With two distracted kids? It was nerve-wracking. No matter how often I would tell them to walk in the middle of the path, they seemed to always wander off to the edge. Which put me on edge. After about 1,000 feet up the side of the mountain, it got worse. The path became narrower and steeper as we were headed into the canyon. The point when I said we were done is when the path was about 12 inches wide with a vertical dropoff and only a chain to cling onto if you needed to grab something. As soon as we got past that, an older gentleman came in the opposite direction and said it got a lot worse after that point and he was turning back. That was it for me.

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The shuttle system in the park is so convenient. They make stops at all the major trails, the lodge, the museum and the visitor’s center, so that is the way you get around.  There is one coming by every 5 minutes or so. We headed over to the Zion Lodge after that to relax and grab lunch. They have a beautiful lawn in front where you can picnic and kids run and play. All surrounded by the majestic beauty of these mountains. We noticed that about this time (lunchtime), tour buses started coming in and dropping off people. That is when it started getting crowded. So if you go to Zion, I would recommend going on your hikes early (7-8am) or later (after 4pm). Leave the middle of the day for lunch and relaxing while everything is crowded. I don’t know about you, but I don’t like my hikes feeling like I am in a line at Disney World.

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Resting up in the lawn at the lodge while we waited for our lunch.

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Emerald Pools Trail right in front of the lodge. Super easy, but crowded.

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Next up was Junior Ranger Badge time! The National Parks all have Junior Ranger programs for children. To participate, you just have to go to a visitor’s center of that park to pick up your activity booklet. We did this in Rocky Mountain National Park 2 years ago and it was a big hit. There are different plants and animals you have to seek out, trails to go on, and lessons about the geology of the park. After the booklet is completed, you have to go back to the visitor’s center to talk to a park ranger, receive your badge and get sworn in.

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The questioning each child gets differs depending on the ranger. Lucky for us, this one was super relaxed.

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So happy they earned their Zion badge.

Two other hikes we really enjoyed were the Labyrinth Trail & the Watchman Trail. The Labyrinth Trail is a lesser known trail right outside of the park that our guide had told us about. It was a great spot to see the sun set and turn the mountains a golden orange. When you get to the top, there is a big labyrinth up there and a picnic table. It was tranquil and serene. We had it all to ourselves.

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The Watchman Trailhead was right in our campground. It was so beautiful, not crowded and we even saw some some deer on our hike. This was probably our favorite hike in Zion.

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Morning hike on the Watchman Trail.

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Playing in the Watchman River after the hike.

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Heading out of Zion on our way to Bryce Canyon National Park, the drive is just out of this world with jaw-dropping scenery. We even had to stop a bit to take it all in.

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As you can probably tell, we loved Zion National Park! It is such and impressive display of the power of what water can do. There are countless ways to explore this amazing place. These are our tips for anyone going to Zion:

  • Try to stay at least 2 nights.
  • Take advantage of the trails early in the morning or late in the afternoon to avoid peak crowds
  • Definitely book an excursion with an adventure company if you can.
  • Be prepared for big swings in temperature. You might be in the 40’s in the morning, but in the 80’s by afternoon.

Next stop, Bryce Canyon!

The past 3 months have been a bit of a whirlwind for me as I took on a big project in addition to my regular work. Despite the fact that I pretty much went into “monk mode” to make sure it came out successfully, I did manage to still dive into some very interesting books, podcasts and classes during this time.

One of these books was “Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less” by Greg McKeown. At first, you might think this book is all about getting rid of extra “stuff” in your life. It is, kind of. But not the kind of “stuff” you might be thinking: clutter, toys, clothes, etc. The book powerfully points out that although we seem to be doing more and more        everyday, our feeling of accomplishment is not there. We are doing SO much in SO many areas, that it is nearly impossible to make meaningful progress in any one area.

Before I go any further and just in case you are not going to get to the end of this post, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this book to pretty much anyone and everyone; despite your role and what you do. If you are the leader of a company or organization. If you are a manager of a team. If you are an employee at a company or organization. If you are the head of a household or an individual who finds themselves ‘busy’ all the time. You get the picture. I honestly can’t think of one person who would not benefit from reading this.

Essentialism Book

Among many key concepts and ideas, these are some of the ones that resonated most with me. Some of these concepts and ideas were “a-ha” moments, and others were “amen” moments in that they underscored beliefs I already had:

  • If you don’t prioritize your time, someone else will. Do you find yourself waking up every day and allowing your agenda to be set for you? Is your day filled with responding to other people’s needs and questions? I know I can speak for myself that if a text comes in, I feel like I must stop what I am doing and respond. Why is that? It’s not about being rude or unkind, it’s about being in control of how we spend our days. How far will you get with your true priorities if you live your life on ‘reactive’ mode? How much progress could you make if you traded off the time you spent looking at your phone and dedicated that to what was most important in your life?
  • Only a few things REALLY  matter. It’s true. If you think about it, whether it be in your job or your family role. If you had to narrow your ‘to do’ list to the top 2-3 most essential things, what would they be? And are you doing those things, or allowing the many trivial things to go first? This is a very weak spot for me. I often avoid the harder (but more important) tasks and get distracted with menial tasks convincing myself they ‘must’ get done. I waste so much time this way.
  • The best asset we have for making a contribution to the world is ourselves…One of the most common ways people – especially ambitious, successful people – damage this asset is through lack of SLEEP. Anyone who knows me at all knows that this was one of my “amen” moments. I am a huge believer that to bring forth the best outcome we have to bring the best of ourselves. And that means putting our health first. Sleep is top on the list there, followed closely by movement. Every night I am in bed between 8:30-9pm. I know that this is very difficult for some people, because that is their ‘unwinding’ time. If sleeping is not going to happen, then one thing I would definitely try cutting out iPad/iPhone after a certain time and dimming the lights. Having the lights on and staring at a screen is not doing anything to help get your Circadian rhythm on track.
  • BOUNDARIES are a source of liberation. I just loved the example in the book about the importance of setting boundaries. What boundaries have you set for yourself? I am setting up some new ones for myself. Mainly to protect myself from…ME! I am my own worst enemy when it comes to filling every moment of my day with a new passion or project. My new boundaries will allow for only 1 extra passion project at a time. If I want to bring something new in, then something has to come out.

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  • An Essentialist produces more – brings forth more – by REMOVING more instead of doing more. Just because you can do everything doesn’t mean you should do everything. When your life is to “full”, whether with commitments or things, it numbs you from finding clarity of purpose and working towards what really matters. Taking a critical editor’s eye at your life and meticulously cut out each and every thing that does not serve your purpose.

Not everything will be solved from reading this book. The book lays out what happens when you lead your life reacting & responding to the world’s demands of you versus being in the driver’s seat. However, you will need to do the “heavy lifting” when it comes to your clarity of purpose. Once the chatter and busy-ness are gone, do you know where you want to go? That is an extremely important question no one can answer but you. And the answers will be different for everyone.

I read this book in combination with taking Jess Lively’s “Life With Intention” online class (she actually recommends it as pre-class reading). I am finding in that class an incredible roadmap for getting that clarity of purpose for myself based on my unique Values. I will post about that in the future. Once you have that clarified, then “Essentialism” will supply the why and how to move forward.

After reading this book and with much reflection, one thing I am personally going to be striving for is to stop saying I am “busy” when someone asks how I am. When I say it, I am going to consider that a failure. I really want to stop the glorification of that word in our daily lives. Does it mean I won’t have things to do or a full schedule? No. Because if I am working on the things I am passionate about and saying no to what I am not, then I am not going to call myself “busy”. I will be “joyful”. Right?

Have you read Essentialism? What did you get out of it? I am looking forward to hearing your thoughts!