As I write this I am sitting in a cute little vacation villa in a lovely resort with my dear friend Dian after a stroll on the beach and dinner in Zihuatanejo, Mexico.  I needed this vacation.  Yes, I travel a lot, but travel and vacation are two very different things.

Taking time to rest (13 1/2 hours of sleep last night!), relax and reflect is a very necessary part of life.  I go at such a fast pace most days, driving my business, taking care of endless details, housekeeping, caring for my brood of animals, communicating with friends and being (seemingly) constantly on the internet, well let’s just say that slowing down for a whole week is a bit overdue.  And it got me to thinking…

It seems that leaving your home and traveling to a place where the day to day things that occupy your time and mind is what we call a vacation, but we can also create that in our every day world.  Since I’m a Libra, I’ve always sought the balance in things and often take “mini-staycations” at home to revive myself.  You know, the occasional movie day (3 back to back, like my own film festival!) or brunch with friends that turns into a day full of eating, drinking, shopping then eating and drinking again.  It’s necessary, quite effective and yet somehow not quite the same.  Yes I think at least a week…the Europeans have it down, taking a minimum of two to four weeks at a stretch!

Leaving all of the “distractions” of life at home and traveling to another location gives me the opportunity to fill the time I’d normally be taking care of other things and people instead to take care of myself first.  The luxury of reading Think and Grow Rich again, finally learning Spanish from the Rosetta Stone course I bought over a year ago and staring at the ocean are high on my priority list.  Like they tell you on the airplane, “put the oxygen mask on yourself first before attempting to help others”.  This is an essential practice.

Writing this blog, putting out a newsletter, and having consults with my favorite actor clients also doesn’t seem like work…even though I’m doing it on vacation.  So it all comes back to this game I play with myself as an entrepreneur just like you.  If you are LOVING what you are doing when you are doing it, it’s never work.  And if you call it play, then isn’t life a constant vacation?  Yes!

My ultimate goals for this lifetime include laying on the beach all day and singing in my bar at night.  Its called The Gold Bar and it’s on a yet to be determined Caribbean island or in a Spanish speaking country. You can rest assured that everything I do daily leads to this goal.  It may not be my bar just yet, but you can bet your bottom dollar I’ll be singing in one this week!

I’d love to hear what your favorite vacations look like, either at home or away!

To your success…and rest!  Lisa