I’m sitting in Zurich, Switzerland drinking a Nespresso coffee and reminiscing over one of the most exquisite activities I have ever done. I witnessed a thermal spa. That’s right, my husband and I went to Thermalbad & Spa Zurich where we were welcomed into a former 19th century brewery and we soaked in wooden tubs for more than four hours. We immersed ourselves in a 95-degree water surrounded by all sorts of bubbly jets where you could wade from bubbly pool to bubbly pool. We then walked ourselves up to the fourth floor and entered a rooftop pool in the middle of 45-degree weather and floated, overlooking the whole city of Zurich. If that wasn’t enough, we participated in a Roman-Irish Spa Ritual consisting of eight wet and dry stations anywhere from floating, to herbal steam baths, to lying flat on heated stone rocks, to swimming laps in an exercise pool. Then, of course, we had to return to the rooftop pool and see Zurich at night. This was perfection and relaxation at its finest!
Point of this story is, it’s been a long and intense year. I found myself thinking about my busy bee lifestyle and how busy my 2019 had been with work, school, home life, and everything else. After truly discovering my passion this year, helping people through major life changes and milestones, I decided to start school at iPec to enhance my coaching skills and become a coach. After several months, I realized my energy had been depleted and I was to blame. My energy was focused on health, 30+ projects at work, recovering from an accident, and trying to be that stereotypical woman/wife that can do everything. It was exhausting and I was assigning this pressure to myself. We aren’t perfect and I was trying to be. I will be the first to admit, I’m an achiever. Achieving is good most times, but achieving also has some costs. If I didn’t watch out, I would wear myself out by unrealistic expectations, assumptions, and limiting beliefs.
With that being said, it was time to get my energy back. I’m proud of my resiliency and all that I accomplished in 2019. So, it was time to celebrate and refuel. See, the thing is, when your energy gets depleted, your cup gets full and it’s hard to provide energy to other things in your life, like friends, family, pets, exercise, hobbies, or anything else.
We’ve all heard of the concept, work hard, play hard. So, that’s exactly what I was doing. My three-year project was finally coming to an end and my husband and I decided to go to Europe for our own adventure and to visit family for Christmas.
December 13, we got on a plane and flew to Zurich, Switzerland. We did some sightseeing, visited the Christmas Markets, ate traditional Swiss food, headed to the thermal spa, and relaxed.
Next, we made our way to Zagreb, Croatia and visited family. Zagreb was known for having the best Advent three years in a row and outdid themselves this year. Zagreb was beautiful. Lights everywhere; hot wine, hot gin, hot rum, chocolate, nutella, or powdered sugar covered bitesize pastries called fritule all filled the squares and alleys. The whole city celebrated Advent and practiced community. It was amazing. Plus, we got to see tradition with the family where Christmas is all about family and the true meaning behind Christmas.
Then, my husband's cousins took us on a mini road trip to Budapest, Hungary, Bratislava, Slovakia, Vienna, Austria, and Graz, Austria. The history, architecture, and culture were astounding. This part of the trip was especially intriguing to me because of the history. Earlier this year I decided to find out my DNA and found out I was 45% Germanic Europe, 29% European Jewish, and 13% Irish and Scottish, and 7% English, 4% French (Italian). While my husband and his family were learning about how the Austrian-Hungarian empire impacted Croatia, I was extremely fascinated by my Jewish heritage in World War II. Hungary, Slovakia, and Austria had a strong Jewish population, but history happened. Seeing the scars up close and personal and envisioning what life was like for my family back then was heartbreaking yet profound. Knowing that those experiences from my family’s past were very real, it made me proud of the person I am today as I try to live a life of low judgement and full kindness. We are all human and we are all connected somehow. Anyway, it all was so fascinating and thought provoking.
After this road trip, we went back to Zagreb for Christmas, and then headed back to Zurich for one final soaking session.
This trip was amazing and enlightening. Full of light, fun, great food, good experiences, funny stories, relaxation, an opportunity to learn more about people, history, and culture, an opportunity to learn more about my family and heritage, an opportunity to grow my relationship with my husband, and an opportunity to get my energy back and own it.
Energy is power. Taking a vacation or some sort of break allows you to fuel yourself and replenish your energy. I now feel as if I can tackle the world and handle anything thrown at me. I vow to live life at my fullest. With that, thank you 2019 for a whirlwind of year! I have learned a lot about energy, resiliency, wellbeing, and balance. Although 2019 was fierce, it also brought a lot of laughter and adventure and I’m so extremely grateful to learn from all these experiences and practice a bit of mindfulness.
So, honeybees... moral of the story is create balance and harmony for yourself. Life comes at you fast, but you can own your energy. Remember you have the power. You may be a busy bee, but sometimes you need some honey, too! Take time to smell the flowers!
Until next time, Ciao Honeybees :)