CCN Way of Life… Vacation Style!

I ordered my own scoop of ice cream the other night. That sounds silly typing it out, but hear me out. I rarely order my own ice cream, and if I do, it will last me days in the freezer. But we were on vacation, and I didn’t have quick access to throw it in the freezer, so I ordered one anyway. The girls were glad I wasn’t begging them for a little bite. I’m a person who needs a little bit to be fully satisfied, so I don’t necessarily like to order my own, but when on vacation, you sometimes just need to splurge. I still only had a few bites before handing it over to the wolves because that is all I wanted, and I’m not trying to walk a thin line on calories; I know how much my body prefers before feeling ‘off”. I’ve mastered intuitive eating, but it hasn’t always been easy, and I’m still not always perfect. We all have our vices. We balance them out to support our long-term goals and create a sustainable way of living no matter where we are and what we do. Do you feel like you’ve mastered intuitive eating? More on that in a few. 

Claire and I met our family in Florida late (much later than anticipated) because of four airline delays. I thought we were staying another night in St. Louis, where she had a pre-ECNL event. We were so ready to be in vacation mode! I don’t know if you have noticed over the years, but we take a lot of trips, not all vacations (mostly soccer trips these days) and we’re finally to our kids ages where vacations actually feel like rest and reconnection. We needed it worse than usual this year. With teens and tweens, connection has to be super intentional otherwise, you’re all just living under the same roof, focused on just getting to the next thing. It has been a minute that we were all in the same room together without a thousand places to be. 

We also have so many unknowns in the next few months that it felt vital to just chill and be present in the moment rather than feeling the decisions weighing on us. Oddly, we already feel the power of the present moment even as we’re heading back home. It’s beautiful to connect back to our intuition when we’re able to slow down time.

Intuitive living is being in the present moment, not fearing the future or regretting the past. Just here and now. Have you mastered intuitive living? In other words, mindfulness. 

It used to take me several days to unwind from life to vacay mode, or even worse, I never would entirely give myself a break. In fact, I’d take meetings and not even tell people I was on vacation. I felt like if I wanted to run a successful, supportive business, then I couldn’t turn it off. This is ironic because when my husband and I first got married and were pregnant, we said the most important thing to us in raising a family was flexibility, not money or anything else, but being able to be on with our family when they needed us. He made many sacrifices to head up his own company from a pretty young age, as well as help me set mine up so that we could have the time we wanted to manage a big family. 

But for over a decade, this idea was super counterintuitive! I don’t think I ever fully embraced it until the pandemic. In a time when others weren’t going to work, I guess I felt like I could focus on the present moment. It was life-changing and from there, I was really able to turn on and turn off. Granted, the year before was one of the most challenging for my personal health, which helped me to learn a lot about managing cortisol, and the best way to do it was to manage my circadian rhythm and live more intuitively. 

Thankfully, in the last few years of work, Ashlee can run the show or have things set up to run themselves for a couple of days here and there, and she has pushed me to be turned off rather than always on and always available to everyone! She filters which emails come to me and what I see when I’m on “pause.” Age does provide wisdom, and it also helps when you surround yourself with amazing people. 

Living intuitively is honestly one of the greatest gifts I’ve been trying to teach you all over the years. It’s the power of the present moment that regulates our circadian rhythm, our cortisol levels, our metabolism, and our nervous system, which regulates our neurotransmitters. Ultimately, it’s the most prized stress regulator on the planet and is mostly accessible to us. We always want to take the supplement or the next best thing rather than taking time and being intentional. Granted, sometimes you need to pause or a break to feel like you can breathe and access this part of your control center. It feels so good when you can genuinely master intuitive living and eating. There is less overwhelm, less that we feel we’re in control of, and more surrender over the things we can’t control. 

Whether it’s a vacation or a staycation, or just a few tender moments of each day to turn back to intuitive living, I urge you to do it! Take the time rather than the supplements! 

While the vacation was terrific and certainly created core memories for us as a family, we love our setup at home. I miss my collagen peptides, my coffee creamer, my magnesium ( I could only pack so many things), and my detox baths. I miss my lymphatic support. Maggie brought the red light (genius). I’m excited to have my sauna and castor oil wraps and make my girls acai bowls at home that cost ⅓ the price of buying them out.  

Life is good today, and I hope it is for you too.