I have been at school for the past two weeks.

At my age, you rarely get the opportunity to disconnect from the world and focus on learning new things for that long. Life is full. We have responsibilities, work, clients, family, to-do lists. There’s stuff to do. People need us. We’re IMPORTANT, dag nab it!

My world did not fall apart without me. I still have my clients. My family is OK. The to-do list is still there. Things that had to get done got done without me. The ones that were left I’ll get done this week now that I am home.

I am transitioning some of my work and life. It’s been a slow progression over the last year or so, and a conscious one. Every few years I stop and rethink. What do I like about my life? What would I like to do better? Where can I make the difference I want to make. Sometimes when I do this, there are few changes. Other times, the changes are largish. This round is largish, and to get where I want to go means more than just making some changes. It means a lot of education.

Part of me has been a little scared of the education portion. I love to learn, and always have. But the last decade or two, I’ve done it at my own pace. Most of my learning has been self-directed. No grades. No judgment. But this last round, and what’s to come will be done at someone else’s pace. Classes and events past two weeks have started at 7:30ish and run till 10ish. I sort of expected my brain to be mush at the end. I’m almost 60. My last formal education came when I was in my forties and I did my Doctorate.

I needn’t have worried. We tend to rise to expectations when things are important to us. That’s why it’s important to constantly challenge ourselves…. so we can rise. I am exhausted, but I got through it all fine. I haven’t gotten my grades yet, but I can say with confidence that I did fine on the final.

And, as I said, my world did not fall apart.

So often, we choose not to take care of ourselves. We choose not to do the work, take the time apart, take the leap to grow. because it’s hard. We’re important.

And we are, but maybe not in the way we fool ourselves into thinking.

The day to day stuff we use as an excuse to not do, to not give ourselves the time and space to do in our lives, is not where we are really important. Oh, we think it is. I’ve made that mistake often in my life. And I was wrong ever time. Because when we give ourselves the space and the time to feed our souls and minds, we become something, someone….. better. Better able to love and care for the people around us. Better able to do our work. Our minds and hearts become softer, in a good way, better able and better willing to see and grasp and put new ideas to work.

And that is important.

That has proven itself to me over and over again in life. When I have not given myself that time and space, I have dried up. I got the work done, but not with the love and the passion and the power I could have done it with. When I give myself the time and space, I am better for everything and everyone that is important to me.

Every part of my life will benefit from my being away these past two weeks. Not just the part of my life and work I was going to school for. Yes, the grass is extraordinarily high. Yes, I have a backlog of work. But I have been renewed, challenged, grown. I have been energized, infused with passion, fired with creative ideas.

Friends, find the time. Get away. It might be classes. It might be a retreat. Or travel. Or a week at the beach (or two weeks at the beach). WHAT we do depends on what fuels our hearts and souls and minds.

Your world won’t fall apart. And you’ll discover you are important in ways you never thought of before.

Be well. Travel Wisely.