Lessons Learned from Being Unplugged

Lessons Learned from Being Unplugged

This was the first vacation that we went on since I started blogging where I did not blog. It is the first vacation where I even left my laptop at home. I brought no work with me other than my goals journal and my regular journal. I did bring my phone but I used it only for staying in touch with family, using the GPS we like (MotionX) and for keeping tabs on the rest of our family members that we were on vacation with. 

I checked my emails while at the airport on the way out and on the way back. I did not even post on Facebook. If you are thinking of doing this I encourage you to just go for it. 

Our vacation was for 9 days. It would have been better at 14 days but our son could not miss pitching that many baseball games for the teams he is on. Here in Florida baseball is year round. 

1. The emails will still be there when you get back. You can delegate your email duties to your assistant. My virtual assistant takes care of mine. 

2. The clients and customers will still be around when you get back. Let the key people know that you will be away. Have your virtual assistant or personal assistant take care of any important tasks, etc. 

3. For safety reasons- I did not even post on FB the exact times we would be on vacation, etc. I did not check in either on foursquare or anywhere where else online. Since I have a public facebook profile- it is not wise to share this kind of event until after the fact. 

4. Enjoy the eye candy! There is so much visual stimulation when you leave your normal surroundings. When we are at home so much or in our communities, our eyes are so used to our surroundings that we rarely pay attention or give much thought to the scenery around us. When you change the scene- your eyes and brain get stimulated. Soaking it all in is like accepting an amazing gift from God. 

5. Treasure the fun with your family. 

6. We did discuss real estate with members of our family and different investors and business owners in each of the towns we stopped in. It is very interesting to learn about the way the cultures of each community differ and what we all have in common. We also stopped in local real estate offices to check out their marketing and listings. 

We flew into Minneapolis and drove to Fargo North Dakota where our oldest son lives. Our second oldest son and his fiance went on the vacation with us. Our youngest son, 12 year old, said this was the best vacation even over our Disneyworld vacations. Our second oldest son has not seen his oldest brother in over 20 years. And we had not met our oldest son's 2 year old baby boy and his 4 yr old daughter. ( I did meet my granddaughter when she was a baby.) We celebrated her 4 year old birthday. 

We then drove from Fargo to Mt Rushmore in South Dakota and stayed in Custer South Dakota. The next day we drove to Cody Wyoming.

The day after that we drove to Yellowstone National Park. We stayed in West Yellowstone Montana for a 2 nights and spent the time in Yellowstone Park being totally amazed at all the majestic nature it has to offer. 

Then we drove into Jackson Hole Wyoming one of my favorite places on earth. Jackson Hole is like heaven on earth. As we drove through the Tetons winding our way around, and then down into Jackson Hole, I heard everyone in the van taking a breath with awe. If you have never been to Jackson Hole- it should go on your bucket list now. I have been there many times but it has been over 25 years since I have been there. 

After we spent the morning and early afternoon in Jackson Hole we drove into Salt Lake City to stay for a couple of days. I wanted Tristan to see Temple Square. We spent the afternoon at Temple Square and then some time in the Deseret Book store where Tristan picked out his new scriptures and we had them engraved with his name for him. 

The pinnacle of our vacation was the last night enjoying dinner at “The Roof” restaurant at the top of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building overlooking the Salt Lake Temple at night all lit up. 

Join us on our Juicing Journey

Join us on our Juicing Journey as a participant or as a spectator, whatever works for you! We love your support!

My juicing journey started on January 2 – 2013 when the big “C” word stared me in the face! I will tell you, life stops abruptly when you hear you might have cancer. There is nothing that will make you stop in your tracks like a deer in headlights. Life as I knew it came to a screetching halt.

I wrote a post about it: An Unexpected Journey .

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An Unexpected Journey

As I walked on the path of this new journey I was lifted up from my burdens by all of you who traveled this road with me. I shared this journey on my personal Facebook page. It was a little too personal for G+ and not appropriate for AR in daily status updates. It is appropriate to give a heart felt thank you to each and everyone of you that shared your trials, offered up prayers, put my name on your church and group prayer rolls and offered so much moral support as well as health tips. 

Stay with my story because there is more that was manifested. 

Each year during the last week of December I go over all my goals to see where I am going. I set up my calendar and schedule the steps to reach new goals. I felt great! I felt like I was really going to take on 2013. 

But January did not start off like I had envisioned…

On January 2 we discovered that my diagnosis was 90% cancer. I am blessed with a wonderful husband and family that truly are there for me. But somehow it was not enough to share this nasty word with only them. 

Cancer staring at you in your face stops life in its tracks straight away. Nothing can prepare you for those words. And then it consumes you. As I faced the fear that results I put on my detective hat and began the quest for natural cures and preventive measures.

The trial was too great for me to bear. I decided to share my journey with my Facebook peeps. This way all of my family, relatives, AR subscribers and agents from all over the country and Canada could follow along. It started out as being my way of saving the energy from having to repeat the same conversation over and over again.

The outpouring of love and support was nothing short of amazing. Gratitude filled my heart as I read each comment over and over again. It did not matter if the comment was two words or a paragraph. I treasured each one of them and held them near to my heart. There were many more people that did not comment that were thinking of me and following my journey. In fact two of our neighbors who I did not even know were following me on Facebook brought me flowers. They told me they were reading my updates on Facebook. 

The outpouring of shared stories of your cancer journeys and triumphs, what you did to change your lifestyle, how you changed the foods you eat – all helped to give me strength and the knowledge that I would survive and outsmart cancer.

On January 9th I went into for a biopsy and this time there was more hope. The hope was that the biopsy would return a benign tumor. Again, the prayers abounded and so many of you reached out to me publicly and privately sharing your support and offering advice.

Now came the waiting period of two weeks. This normally would be the hardest part of the journey but I decided to take control of my future health. I read all the reviews of several juicers until deciding on the Breville Juice Plus juicer. We went to the Farmer's Markets, Publix for the organic carrots and Whole Foods. Green Juices became my breakfast and lunch daily.

I then began sharing what I was eating each day on my Facebook page which is something ordinarily I would not do. You know, the people who poke fun at those who share what they are eating:) . But this was different. As I followed the prompting to share our juice stories, my failures like when I succumbed to an all natural hot dog because our son was having one and I did not have the will power to abstain from eating one also. It did not hurt to share that I also lost 8 pounds the very first week of juicing! 

Then the day arrived. January 17th. When I walked into my doctor's office I said one final prayer. I felt a strong prompting to let all of you know on Facebook that I was in that waiting room. Immediately after posting that status update I felt a tremendous burden lifted right off of my shoulders. I felt the prayers rising up. I was not alone. I was not carrying the burden of this journey alone. All of you plus many people that I do not even know, complete strangers were offering up prayers. Those of you who put me your church prayer rolls- thank you. Hundreds upon hundreds of people were raising up their voices in prayer for me. 

The look on my doctor's face was interesting. It was a mix of wonder and relief. I did not have cancer! I have a condition called, Postmenopausal endometriosis. This is very rare. Only about 2% of women post menapause get this condition. I will be needing surgery and during the surgery my doctor will do a telescopy exam to make sure there is nothing else going on. 

The two things that I gleaned from this journey was 1. the reality of the power of prayer and 2. you never know who's life you might change, help or even save.

But I also learned something about myself.  

I learned to let go of my lists when they get too overwhelming. I learned to share your burdens great and small as well as the victories. I learned that it was OK to have a pity party the day that you are told the news but to get working on your health the day after. 

Every trial we are called to bear is for a reason. We may not know the reason right away but there is a reason. When you share your trials and allow gratitude to flow from you the burden becomes lighter. 

During these times most of us enter a stage of contemplation, deep thought.  I thought about the messages saying, “you inspired me to buy a juicer”, and “you inspired me to take action with my bad diet”, etc, I saw the word “inspire” as the continued theme throughout the messages and emails. Why did that word mean so much to me? Because it is my calling. My gift is the ability to inspire others to take action. This is what my goal is in my coaching, my speaking, my blogging. 

As I went through my life in my mind's eye it has always been the gift to inspire others no matter what business I was involved or what life experience I was going through that motivated me. This journey brought clarity and helped me to become congruent with my gift. Since you just never know what will inspire someone to make a change in their life I will continue to post about my juicing and weight loss journey and post about this rare condition so that women who have passed through menopause everywhere will call their doctor immediately if they start to bleed or even spot. It can be the difference of life and death in many cases.

I have reconnected with my gift to inspire and will base my life and business decisions moving forward to be aligned with the gift and goal. I hope that if this is the first post of mine that you have read that you will take the time to browse my posts from over the years to help inspire you to take action in your businesses and lives. We do not travel our journeys alone. Take time to discover your gifts and align your lives to be congruent with your talents and gifts. 

authored by Katerina Gasset