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Over the past few weeks I have spoken with both friends and family who have travel plans in place over the next couple of months. Some are going to exotic places like South Africa, India, Angkor Wat, Vietnam and Thailand. Others have Hawaii, Italy and Cabo San Lucas on their schedules. I enjoy hearing of their plans and the excitement that lights up their face as they share the details and research of their trip. I also love to hear about their trip upon their return home. The images they paint from their stories I find as interesting as their photos. Don’t get me wrong the photos are cool but the stories are their experiences!
Some are going in groups, others with friends or family, and others as a “single” while participating in a group tour. I know folks who like to bike or hike through regions of Europe, others who like to take River Cruises and others Motor Coach Tours. I admire them all. It takes planning, tenacity and an adventurous spirit to travel.
I think there is a difference between vacationing and traveling. Vacationing to me is about relaxing somewhere, playing and being in safe and reliable environs. This takes on many vistas…camping for some, at the beach for others or perhaps Disneyland. Traveling on the other hand is stretching our boundaries, seeing new vistas, meeting new people and exposing ourselves to different cultures. It can also be immersing ourselves in history, art, spiritual/religious pilgrimages or researching our family’s ancestry. While we certainly can use vacation time to travel and we can have fun and play while traveling, there is a different energy around travel than there is vacationing. I think both are necessary to feed and renew the soul.
Travel gives us an education unlike any other and helps us to be better citizens of the world and to appreciate home. As I see it, when we travel we become guests of the countries, cities and regions that we visit. We observe the culture, landscape, architecture and people and experience life from their point of view and existence. There are colors, smells, tastes, sounds and climates that are specific to each place we visit and we bring the memory of these back home with us. Travel of any kind expands our minds and opens our thinking, our compassion and personal insights. We are different when we come home, our life experience has changed and grown. We begin to frame how we live in the world differently.
Vacationing also changes us. It renews us, gives us new vitality and resets our fun meters. It reconnects us with our inner selves and with our family or friends we might be traveling with. Vacationing gives us time to vacate the stale and stagnant mindsets and physical weariness we have fallen into through everyday life. It mixes things up and lets us enjoy different foods and drink. It gives us time to rest and be “on vacation.”
Most people find planning the travel as enjoyable as the actual going. We set our itineraries, begin to make arrangements and reservations while engaging our travel or vacation mindset months in advance. The planning is fun, gives us something to look forward to and offers interesting conversation with those that have already explored our travel destination.
Planning and traveling are exciting but what I try to remind myself of everyday is to pay attention to the beauty of where I live. It is easy to forget or not see the beauty of our own backyard (literally and figuratively). I know the sunsets in Hawaii are exquisite but so are the ones outside my home. The wildflowers blooming in the fields, the trees beginning to blossom, the rolling green hills and the clouds hovering over the foothills are just as pretty here as they are in Europe.
Living in Northern California I consider myself extremely lucky. People pay thousands of dollars to come visit our area from all over the world and I live with its beauty and bounty every day. I bet wherever you live, you could say the same thing. And, while we all enjoy travel and vacation the simple truth is there is no place like home.
Happy trails!
Let’s talk eyeglasses. I am a single lens girl. That holds true for both my vision and my focus. I admire people who can wear bifocals or trifocals or those who can listen to music, watch television and read or work at the same time. I just can’t do it. I can get away with bifocals for certain situations but overall I am a single lens, single focus girl.
As I have aged this eyeglass situation has led to other areas of change in my life. For instance, I used to carry a small purse. I liked the shoulder bag style that had a wallet included and allowed for efficient organization of my essentials. Now that I carry an arsenal of eye ware with me, I have adapted to a larger bag. It is cumbersome, heavy and feels a bit conspicuous. Actually, it feels like my grandmother’s purse. I am just not used to carrying a large bag. Shopping for a new purse is also a chore. I take out all of the filler paper and make sure there is room for my three to four sets of glasses, wallet and other female necessities. Yes, necessities. No longer do I have a cute compact to check my make-up. Instead I carry a 10X magnifying mirror (a whole other subject to write about another day), so I can check my lipstick and make sure I have no food in my teeth. I seem to have become more conscious of my appearance as I have aged. As they say, this aging thing isn’t for wimps especially when magnified 10X!
When I am out shopping I wear my prescription sunglasses for as long as possible. They are big, have my distance prescription in them and offer me the best vision experience. The problem is they are dark and not suited for most indoor lighting. This means I eventually need to switch to either my bifocals or my distance glasses and my computer/reading glasses. Walking with the bifocals can be a problem and switching back and forth between distance and reading is a hassle. My hands, pockets and purse are full of eyeglasses. I can make myself nauseous fairly quickly with all the back and forth.
I have to say it is exhausting. If you can’t see clearly your brain just doesn’t work as well and you can become tired fairly quickly. I can also get confused as to which pair I have on until I realize everything is a blur! I can even panic as I head back outside when I can’t find my sunglasses, until I realize they are on top of my head! My husband once took a picture of me with my sunglasses on the top of my head, my reading glasses on and my distance glasses on my chin as I was looking at purses!
My dining out experience has also changed. I sit down and promptly pull out my eyeglasses and place them on the table. Reading the menu and eating requires one set, looking around the restaurant another set, looking across the table can sometimes be a third set. Getting it right isn’t easy. I go back and forth during the entire meal. Without clear vision my brain fades pretty fast which has nothing to do with the glass of wine I am drinking!
Another issue with all of these different pairs of glasses is expense… and fashion. It would be great to change my eye glasses to fit my different attire. This is cost prohibitive. When I was younger and all I needed were reading glasses I could have an upstairs pair, downstairs pair and pair for my purse and it was somewhat affordable. Now that I need 3 different pairs with different lenses I can no longer justify upstairs, downstairs and purse options. So, you make a choice based on how you are feeling the day you pick out your glasses and then have to live with the darn things for a year or more.
I have only owned a couple of pairs I really loved. One got broken and scratched fairly early on and the others I lost while on vacation. My husband has also lost and broken several pair. They are fragile little beauties that tempt you with their beckoning to be removed and placed down in the most inauspicious of places.
I rarely look at myself with my glasses on, and I don’t like my picture taken with my glasses on. On the rare occasions that I do see myself with my glasses on I exclaim “Oh what the hell was I thinking when I picked these out!” Of course, I feel guilty about the money spent on the darn things, so I just keep wearing them even though I might look like a fashion “don’t.”
Now, I don’t want to sound unappreciative. I am very grateful for the ability to see because of all these spectacles. However, I wish I didn’t need them, but since I do, I wish I was one of those people who looked great in glasses. I would love to be able to wear progressive trifocals or contact lenses and be tres chic. Instead it all just feels like I am a spectacle.
I recently read a blog post from Matthew Taylor at Theflyblog.com regarding mentors. His post asked the question “Where are the Mentors?” Initially, my reaction to his post and to most reader comments posted was agreement with their position: Mentors are difficult to find and seem to have a bit of an attitude. I still don’t disagree but upon further reflection, I agree differently.
As a good post will do, it made me think about the subject. I pondered the different mentors I have had in my life. There were those that I entered into a student/mentor relationship with formally and there were those that probably had no idea they were a mentor to me.
The latter group, were people I admired, looked up to and who seemed to be successful in their life or career path. I observed them, emulated them and learned from their actions and behavior. I analyzed their decisions and tried to understand their thought processes. They taught me many lessons and gave me good tools. I liked them and enjoyed being around them.
My formal mentors were very different. I had to prove to them my ability or skill, that I was willing to do the homework they assigned, that I was committed to the work itself, genuine in my desire and willing to invest in the process. This meant there was an exchange of either money or work for their knowledge and time. That is the rub for most students. The exchange rate may be too high.
My mentors shared with me their information, skills, strengths, beliefs and stories of success and failure. I also experienced their weaknesses, vulnerabilities, flaws and bad behavior. They put me through my paces, made high demands and at times gave little guidance. All of these things taught me immeasurable lessons and gave me real tools to work with. They weren’t easy lessons to learn but I was a willing student. It was worth every cent I paid and sacrifice I made.
Good mentors have strong boundaries and are successful, busy people. They are also some of the most giving folks I know. They get asked constantly to give of their time, talent and treasure and they do so willingly. They are passionate about their success and love to share their passion with others.
They also get asked all the time about how they achieved their success. Just like the author Matthew Taylor mentions at the beginning of his article who was asked, “How do you get a book published?” Her response was not well received by the hopeful new authors in the audience. It was, “Write the best book you can and get an agent.”
The author’s response was succinct and accurate. Did she offer up her agent’s number or tell the audience the secret to getting published? No, but in her response is the answer. It is hard work, perseverance, commitment and determination.
My father in law is a highly successful businessman. People ask him all the time how he became so successful. He willingly tells them. When asked why he gives the information so freely, he offers up this response: Very, very few will act on the information. Even fewer are willing to take the risks necessary to succeed.
As humans in this rat race of a world, we are all looking for the magic formula, the easy way to accomplish a goal, or the key that will unlock our instant success. Perhaps life teaches us that the magic is in the process. So maybe a better question might be; are you willing to take a risk, invest in your work and be a dedicated student? The old saying, “When the student is ready, the teacher appears” I believe to be true.
HighRoadpost by Lisa Joiner 
Inspiration from Microsoft Surface Studio
November 6, 2016 in Career, Musings, Social Commentary | Tags: Creatives, Integrity, Microsoft Surface Studio, Panos Panay, Pure Imagination, Willy Wonka | Leave a comment
I recently watched the video of Panos Panay unveiling Microsoft’s Surface Studio. You can feel his passion, excitement and pure love for this product jump through the video. Is the product cool? Absolutely. What’s impressive beyond the actual product, is how Panay dove into the working behaviors of different creatives and discovered how the different modalities create.
This is a guy who gets what it’s like for creatives to be immersed in their work. We don’t just get drawn in, we become absorbed. The words, drawings, or music pour onto the page (or surface) from our minds and hearts. The tools are an extension of us, as we get up close and personal to our work. We even can be a bit (or a lot) quirky about having the right tools and environment.
It was encouraging to see product designed for artists/creatives…because honestly, why should gamers or techies have all the cool stuff? Panay and his team understand the creative process and their product’s innovation is intricate and layered. It was…Pure Imagination. Panay even had his friend Stephanie Tarling record the song as part of the presentation. The song’s essence captures the team and this product perfectly. Willy Wonka (Gene Wilder’s Wonka) would be proud.
In a world where so many focus on being divisive, where integrity and accountability are lacking, my hope got fired up by a team of Microsoft Surface creatives. They’re developing products for other creatives in a free market that still influences the world, and it’s the best representation of capitalism I’ve seen in a long while. Bravo to pure imagination, to making dreams come to life and to enjoying the work.