Travel Tales

How wonderful is vacation? It is great to get away and at least try to relax. My family just returned from our family vacation and took a new travel mode...we actually drove! For us, that is huge, we are really plane people when we get past 3 to 4 hours. However, we thought it was wise to save the cash and pack the mini van for our ultimate road trip. I am happy to say we made it...12 hours down and back to Hilton Head. Wow!

To my surpirse the travel was not as bad as I thought or feared it would be. It was actually kind of fun. Check out how we made it happen:

1. Leave at the Crack of Dawn: We left at 4am...which must be illegal! However, by the time we actually woke up and realized what we were doing, we were already 2-3 hours into the trip.


2. Lots and lots of Snacks: Food always makes things go faster, right?


3. Videos: A good movie helped the kids get through 1-2 hours of time


4. Play-Away Books on Tape: Our family loves the library, and now we really love to use their books on tape via play-away. This is a recorded system (similar to an iPod) that you borrow from the library. All you need is your own headsets. Everyone had their own books on tape to listen to. It helped us escape from being truly annoyed by each other. The kids loved having their own headsets and felt very grown-up.


5. Satellite Radio: XM Radio was great to listen to for everyone. The kids had Disney, my husband had his hour of sports and I tapped into Oprah throughout the trip.

At the end of the day, I actually had more activities than time. Once again, I over planned but better to be safe than stuck on I95 with screaming kids. We had more than enough to do to keep us occupied and we would definitely do it again.

Live Your Life, Not Hers

We often define what success looks like based on external expectations. We are a society that thrives on comparing and defining what is "good" or "correct" by a set of rules and standards. The question is, whose standards are we trying to live up to, and why are we following their rules?

In order to truly take back your life, YOU must be the one who defines its success. If you take the time to be the author of your own expectations, you can establish role responsibilities that are reasonable and realistic. Once you have established your own expectations, you can then focus on mastery within your own context. Mastery implies perfection, but again this principle is asking that you serve as the source of that "mastery" definition.

A perfect example of defining your own mastery can be seen in IBM's Inhi Cho Suh who was recently featured in the July edition of Working Mother magazine. Inhi, one of the youngest VP's at the tech giant, recently became a first-time mom. In the article, Inhi shares how she quickly realized the need to set her own expectations, priorities and boundaries as a working mom. Inhi states,"I told myself I wasn't going to be the best mom in the world, or even try to be." In making this bold statement, Inhi has freed herself from the expectations of others. In essence, she has empowered herself by being the measuring stick of her own success. She calls the shots and can gauge where she falls on the spectrum of success.

Take the time to clearly define what success looks like in your roles. This is very important, because functioning based on the expectations of others can be frustrating, exhausting and often unattainable. Take charge of your life and set your own standards for being a "good" wife, mom, sister, daughter, friend and everything else in your very busy world.

(Read the full article on Inhi Cho Suh)

Be a Self-Leader

Do you ever feel like your life is leading you instead of you leading your life? This often happens because we are not being the leaders of our lives.

Being the leader of your life means you know how you want your life to function, and you are clear on why this is important. This understanding serves as your guide or compass in life - this is your vision!

Could you imagine setting out on a journey without a map or directions? How about if you were trying to sail without a compass? Truly, you would get lost. This is exactly the same thing that happens in your life, if you are not a self-leader.

Managing multiple roles such as mom, wife, employee and more makes having a clear vision even more important. Without this vision, you can easily get lost and be pulled in different directions. In fact, you can get pulled into someone else's priorities. When this happens, we are not living our priorities, and the result is often stress and tension.

Take some time to define what is important to you. Next step, determine if your life reflects it. Then, the very brave step is living your priorities. The great news is that you do not have to do this alone. Tap into your village or support system as a source of accountability. There is great power and strength in numbers, so don't be afraid to share your vision!