Let me tell you about this time I said a BIG yes, to a BIG crazy idea. An idea so insane, it defied all practical logic of a normal functioning responsible adult. 

Before I launched a whole new life with realizing Kickin’ Vegan to its full potential, I went through a bit of a transformation. A magical window of opportunity came around for me, and I grabbed it. With absolute spontaneity. 

I created a window of time between leaving my full time career, just after receiving a huge promotion, and starting off as an entrepreneur. With no plan or foresight, or even five minutes of thinking about it,  I decided to take my kids to visit my Dad in Hawaii for 3 weeks. I didn’t wait for the ‘voice of reason’ to kick in and tell me it wasn’t financially responsible (it wasn’t) or that I needed to use this time to prep my life for my new transition (I did.)

My Son and Dad on a coconut harvesting mission

I do not regret it. I have a huge dry erase wall in the kitchen, which I see everyday. I had listed on it, in advance:

My Summer Priorities

1. Family

2. Fitness/Diet

3. Writing

4. Cleaning/Organizing

This Hawaiian vacation nailed the first two.

1. Family

I spent serious quality time with my kids. We played, we relaxed, we meditated, we hiked in nature, we adventured, we watched sunsets, we swam, we learned. We had so many great talks. We spent actual time- present time- with each other. That is magical. I’ll never forget how close we bonded this trip.

Although my husband did not have the free time to run off to the islands spontaneously, we had really great long romantic conversations, meaningful conversations every day, and the kids and I shared tons of facetime and videos. It really made us closer. Absence, hearts. I even brought my kids to the spot on the beach where we got married 16 years ago. 

This is where I walked down the aisle!

I also got to spend great time with my Dad. This was probably one of our most bonding visits ever. We had long talks about the history of our family, our personal history, and delved into some stuff we’ve never talked about.  I’m so grateful for this time together. I spent tons of time with his awesome wife, too, whom I adore. We got closer than ever and had a lot of fun. So list item number one: Family. Super check!

2. Fitness / Diet

I kicked off a return to my healthy lifestyle. I had let stress and overwhelm remove me from who I was- and my health wasn’t in my usual tip top shape. Every morning at 4 am (there is a significant time change that facilitated my early morning badassness) I would meditate at the ocean edge in my Dad’s backyard, listen to the sea turtles breathe as the water lapped up, and visualize my new life. I journaled, I read. As soon as the sun rose, I ran every single day.

Heading toward the Mountaintop

I ran from the ocean straight up a mountain onto a trail with a bamboo forest and a stunning lookout view of Kaneohe and Kailua bays. Then, returning to the shore, jumped in and had a swim, in my dad’s backyard, with actual sea turtles. Most days I also took out a kayak and paddled around Kaneohe Bay before hot tubbing it in the backyard overlooking the bay while I drank straight from a coconut from my Dad’s tree. This was my everyday routine. (My Dad has created quite a nice environment for himself, he’s pretty much the master of Zen. I took full advantage.) 

The Daily Coconut

Hawaii has the best food ever. Fresh fresh fruit and clean preparation. Thai food, vegan food, Ramen shops, Korean veggie plates, the flavors I grew up on when I was exactly my kids’ ages. I was seriously in Heaven. It was a huge inspiration for me to step outside of the Southern food norm, which I absolutely brought home with me.  We ate homemade ramen for like a month. 

3. Journaling-ish

I didn’t really touch on items three and four other than executing my miracle mornings and doing some journaling, but on my return, I’m all over both. 

***Personal Development takeaway for you:

If you don’t know about the Miracle Morning, I highly recommend you read Hal Elrod’s book:

The Miracle Morning

to recreate this morning magic for yourself. I actually read his new book,

The Miracle Equation,

hot off the presses while I was on this trip. I haven’t met him in person (yet) and have no affiliations or compensations for recommending his book, but I could sing Hal Elrod’s praises for days. I’m so grateful for his podcast and facebook group and teachings, I’m truly recommending these books out of the goodness of wanting to share them with you. So read them. Now, let’s get back to this crazy idea of running off to Hawaii I said yes to!

Although I couldn’t see my dry erase board in Hawaii, and I didn’t remember having written that list- when you write things down, it’s a way of realizing them into reality. Written words have power.

Should You…Say Yes?

When you are given a gift like this, in my case a free month, wring the best of life from it whatever the cost. I took a few minor hits from taking off with three days notice and leaving to go off grid. Especially in the finances. What I gained far far outweighs any loss, minimizing any worries about such to the point of disappearance.

I came back a newly refreshed, better version of myself with full focus and clarity about the burning desire to share. I wanted to create a place for people to come together, learn about Plant Based Life, and live their healthiest, happiest,  best selves. I didn’t yet know how Kickin’ Vegan was going to accomplish that, but wow, how much has happened and grown since then! 

I made a free food prep guide for you, grab it here!

Sometimes a crazy idea, (like quitting your job to run away to Hawaii to plan your vegan empire, for a general example) is EXACTLY what you need in your life.  Imagine if you just spontaneously jumped at your crazy idea when it popped into your head. That’s what this was, a legit crazy idea that could easily have been followed up with  “I could never do that, it would be crazy.” I put my two kids on a plane two days later, the first day of Summer break. I am not special. I am not rich and privileged. (I do have a Dad who retired in a super cool place, but he paid for that with a lifetime of service to our country in the USMC, oohrah. Base Life. Brat.) 

Hot Tub with a View

 What opportunity can you seize, now, right now, that might be looking right at you? Don’t let the voice of reason stop you from living an amazing life!

If you love this post and want to share, please let your friends know about it! Sharing is caring, and the more people in the know, the more awesome your plant based support network grows! Aloha!