HOW TO TAKE A STEP BACK . . .
What do hard working women have in common? We fly through life at warp speed, forgetting all the while to pull back on the power, slow down and look around, often missing the lovely clouds passing by. Last month, my fast paced life came to a screeching halt when I locked myself out of my apartment... apparently stress leads to sleep walking. I had to stop for a moment and take a deep breath. In that instant came the realization I'd been flying so fast I’d forgotten to focus on my health and embrace life. It was as if the source of my power, my bright red, Superwoman Lycra jumpsuit had come off in flight. BOOM! BANG! CRASH! There were the threads of my life ... exposed and flat out facing the ground next to me on my front steps at 3am. I knew I could no longer keep my pace ... couldn't sprint for the bus or eat take-out again. I couldn’t spend one more day filled with the stresses of working all day, then working out at the gym, working at finding Mr. Right, or working at being the best friend and daughter one could be. I looked down at my charred, red polyester suit and shed a tear. DRATS! My energy ... my super powers were spent.
So, what does a hardworking, practical supergal do when she runs out of steam? What else ... recharge! I checked my latest bank statement, asked for my long overdue vacation, called a fellow burnout, hopped online and booked a two week trip to a country known for their pura vida ... Costa Rica ... that tropical place where the love for life moves at the speed of tortugas.
Initially uncomfortable in the flow of my earthbound garb, I was stressed on my flight down to Central America. I felt guilty I'd taken time off from work, worried that, without electronics, I wouldn’t know what to do when I got down there ... stressed about making my flight, and stressed about spending money. I felt guilty about not saving this cash for my.... retirement ... SPUTTER! SPUTTER!
Landing in Liberia couldn't have come at a better time. For a brief moment I felt relief. There was my fellow burnout ... another superhero without his power suit ... my brother, who’d crashed to earth around the same time I had. He'd decided to take some time off to recharge with me. As we made our way to the rental car company, I felt exhausted after an all-nighter of nonstop worry and stress. We walked out to the shuttle transfer and were immediately accosted by heat. Not just ‘oh it’s so nice out, lets hang in the park heat’, it was ‘holy shit, I think I might melt’ heat. I immediately regretted not having shorts on.
Two hours later, we barely escaped the rental agency, having been swindled out of several hundred dollars more than my reservation by villains who prey on unsuspecting tourists. (Warning – if you book a car in Costa Rica, you have to buy the insurance, no matter if you have credit card insurance, so do it online for a ½ the price of what they’ll charge you in person). When I realized I wasn’t going to be able to supertalk my way out of this injustice, I resigned myself to defeat and accepted the charge with what little grace I had left. I immediately started to feel stressed ... this was a terrible sign for the trip. But we jumped in our little economy car and took off.
A couple hours later, we were still bumping along on seemingly endless dirt roads with no signs and grazing cattle blocking our progress. Throughout this jarring ride, my mind was unable to let me enjoy the fact I had escaped work and the frantic pace of urban life. There I was ... exploring a new country ... and all I could see was GLOOM AND DOOM! I thought, "I've lost touch with the source of my secret powers." Unwinding and recharging was gonna be a lot harder than I imagined.
What we hoped would be a breeze, was no easy task, but we finally made it to Nosara, a pretty little surf spot on the west coast. We rounded a turn in the road and upon seeing the beautiful, blue waters of the Pacific and its powerful curling waves, I felt a sudden sense of relief and a familiar twinge of excitement. I licked my lips and finding them covered in dirt and sweat, I smiled. This was exactly where I needed to be. Almost immediately the stresses and challenges of the trip started to melt away.
Over the next few weeks, time moved at such a slow pace there was almost too much of it in each day. I read four books, learned to surf, joined dozens of yoga classes, turned my few freckles into full freckle coverage, paddle boarded, had midnight bonfires on the beach, watched the stars streak across the sky, and came back to my room more hydrated and happy than I'd been in a long time.
What was almost as impressive as the beautiful scenery and wonderful people we met, was the change in my mood. I started to take the little things in stride. My patience increased and with it a ‘pura vida’ approach to living. Each tropical, stress free moment brought me closer to renewed health, free from guilt and recharged with a feeling I could handle whatever challenge came my way. On my last day, I wondered if these feelings could be transferred to my work-a-day, urban super self. It didn’t take long to test the theory.
The time had come to leave this paradise and the 4 am shuttle I arranged to get me to Liberia's airport was an hour late. I had a two hour drive down a dirt road and only three hours before my flight left. Where was my little red jumpsuit with the big "S" on the front? This was gonna take lots of my new super special powers of composure. As the minutes ticked by, I waited with my head resting on my bag watching the palms swirl above me in the early dawn breeze. I realized I didn’t care if the shuttle never came and my flight left without me because whatever happened, this newly calm under pressure gal was resourceful enough to figure things out. No crash and burn for me this time.
All the little things that can make us busy women racked with nerves and stressed out, that drive us toward flameouts and reaching toward a bottle of wine can sometimes be handled instead with a shrug of the shoulders. Yeah, you might think I'm still just flying high from all the Costa Rican heat, but it's the ‘pura vida’ attitude that's renewed my state of mind and powers my smile. Sometimes all it takes to maintain one's life energy is to stop for a moment, shrug your shoulders and move on. Miss the bus... WHOOPS! Got an interview ... ZING! Just tap into the Pura Vida state of mind ... embrace the moment ... relish life ... push your power levers forward and fly!
But remember ladies as you squirm into that stretchy, red suit ... try to break now and then from the constant movement and daily grind. You just might be surprised by what you see. ZOOM! WHIZZZzzzzz
Pura Vida,
Lara
