Total Distraction In Progress

ITALY has been on my bucket list for years. I'm talking for approximately ten years! 

When this travel destination first showed up on my wish list, I allowed myself to buy books and magazines about the different regions, including a couple of fabulous cookbooks from which I still cook some now-favorite dishes. I recall marching down to Barnes and Noble to invest in Rosetta Stone software. Perhaps you're familiar with the poor-quality headset and microphone combo that came in that version? The speech recognition was so frustrating. Now it's all internet-driven, much better!

For various reasons, that vision fell on the back burner. I put other dreams ahead of it, for a time.

Italy started showing up again on my annual vision board a couple of years ago when I married my adoring husband, Chris. Conversations around traveling to Italy began to get more definite at the beginning of the new year when we received our 2020 guidebook with specific itineraries.

HINT: This started as a simple to-do item: ☑️ Ask the travel agent to send Italy brochure. (Italy was on Chris's vision board, too.)

Part of my daily routine is to read a devotional every morning, followed by reading something additional, and then journaling. With a fresh-of-the-press Italy tourism catalog by my reading chair, I cracked that bad boy open one morning when my devotion-reading and my first cup of coffee failed to run out at the same time.

Before I knew it, I was dog-earing pages, highlighting passages, and making notes. Yes, I keep those items beside my reading chair. Doesn't everyone? Before long, I knew which one of the tours was my most-preferred.

Fast forward to today.

We booked it! Perhaps it's the COVID cabin fever catching up with us. Nah, we knew it was time. Next fall, assuming a post-pandemic free-to-move-around-world, we will be sipping vino in the Italian countryside.

None of this was a big surprise. Once I made up my mind years ago to see it, I knew I would get there eventually. 

Yet, there has been a slight surprise.

I have found myself distracted. What will the weather be like in the fall? What is fashionable? How do I pack to be away seventeen days? What kind of electric converters or adapters will I need? For what is each region known? What can I expect?

As you can imagine, I plunged into Google searches. And Pinterest! So many queries on Pinterest have given me an endless stream of eye candy. Oh, Italian fashion! ♥️❌⭕️❌⭕️♥️

So then, what was the surprise?

First, I was surprised to realize how much I miss dressing up and going out! I have worked from home over four years now. Then comes the COVID-induced quarantine, in which we are still participating for the most part.

Then, I was surprised to realize what (truthfully - who) this trip was opening up inside of me. That part of me has always been there, ever since I was a little girl. She represents the side of me that likes to dress up and look my best. She likes romance. And a sense of adventure. And she loves enjoying life, moment by moment.

If you know me, this probably isn't a surprise to you. So why was it a surprise to me?

It's a pleasant and familiar feeling I have ignored of late. After all, no need to dress up when not leaving the four walls of my house except on Friday nights when I accompany Chris to pick up our Mexican take-out just down the street.

This whole Italy saga has inspired me to step up my game!

What's in this for you?

Ah, yes, my point. I encourage you:

Allow yourself to dream, and wish. And get lost in it. When you wander around inside your imagination, you discover things about yourself. The possibilities are endless. Trust me; something will spark.

Let go of who you are to become who you want to be.

Make room for who you want to be. The today-you can be preventing tomorrow-you if there is no space to dream of tomorrow. Who stays where there is no space to put one's toothbrush? No one.

So, clear out some old habits, thoughts, beliefs, or whatever you're clinging to that stands in the way of where you want your life to take you. When you clear that stuff out, you make room for the new habits, thoughts, and beliefs that will get you there.

At that point, it's very natural to maneuver right into the new you. 

Who would you like for that to be? Go! dream.

Today is the day to #GoForIt and #LiveDeliberately.

Founder, Personal Evolution Co.