Episode 181
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You are listening to episode 181 of the Peaceful Mind Podcast.
Welcome to the Peaceful Mind Podcast, a place for creating the peace of mind. You need to be the best mom. You are created by God to be. If you wanna bring more balance, more joy, and more peace to your motherhood, this is the place for you. I'm your host, certified life coach at Catholic Mom Danielle Thienel.
In the name of the father of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Let's get started.
Hello everyone and welcome back to the podcast. I'm so excited to be with you here today. I'm your host, Danielle Thienel. I'm a life coach and busy mom. And a busy mom on the move right now. It is summertime and there is lots of vacationing and travel going on for myself. My clients and you listeners going on, and I want to bring to you this episode called Navigating Travels more peacefully because I wanna take you on a journey through my recent two week European vacation and show you how.
I was able to draw on life lessons and coaching tools from the diaries per se, that I'm going to talk to you about today. And it really is just focusing on the busy mom on the road or in the air and just trying to. See what it's like to really carry what you learn here on the podcast, or if you're one of my clients, one of all of the coaching tools and strategies that I offer and imply them into your real life, which includes leaving our homes, going on vacations, and really, you know, being out of our routine and especially when it's things that.
We weren't expecting, or we have these high expectations about vacations or traveling and how it's gonna go. Or maybe you have some stress and anxieties about traveling, and I wanna help you navigate it more peacefully because I think by sharing my experiences, the challenges that I met, and most importantly, the ways in which these travel trials tie in beautifully with life coaching principles.
So I've broken it up into a couple areas and what I wanna talk about briefly is embracing disappointment that comes sometimes when we are traveling and how to move forward more peacefully. I wanna talk about things that happen to us that are not in our control. I also want to help you see the power of when we're traveling, being able to stay in the present moment, and then also the correlation about having personal guides, which we had on this particular vacation, and the piece that it brings us to have that in place.
And so, yeah, let's get started. If you are traveling right now, as you're listening to it, I invite you to take what you hear, hear, and start to apply it in real time. And if you already have had a vacation, I. Or have been traveling. I want you to see if you can see where some of these things came up for you as well, and then kind of revisit how you handled it and then see if what I offer might be something that you can apply to handle it more peacefully next time.
Right now it felt like like I said, I went to Europe and it really is, all of the people we met kept saying that it is so busy right now, so crowded. It makes sense after coming out of the pandemic. And then now, you know, borders are open and people are just really wanting to get out and about and explore.
It was. It was super crowded. And so I am just taking the chance that you listeners are just like me, one of those peoples who are one of those who are going out there and really wanting to experience travel. So let's do it more peacefully. And where I wanna start to invite you is what I had to do.
And that's to embrace disappointment. Our adventure started off a little rocky. We were all set and excited to get over there and start our first day in London when lo and behold, our first flight, it was actually our second, we had to connect once here in the United States that it was, it was canceled.
And let me, mind you, I wanna tell you, my mindset is that we were getting ready for the over. The ocean trip to get us to London. We were boarded on the plane. The plane had pulled out. We were taxiing on. To the runway when we ended up stopping and then stopping for a long time and uncomfortably long to where you were like, I think something's going on here.
When the captain came on, it was a air condition issue in the back of the plane, and they said that we were coming back to they were gonna bring us back in. They were sending service people out, and so we still had hopes that it would be something that they could fix, but long story short, it ended up being.
Canceled and the flight was not rebooked for 24 hours later. So I wanna bring you to that initial wave of disappointment. It was palpable for me, but it also presented a chance for me to employ the exact coaching principles of managing your emotions and then also turning. Disappointments and obstacles that we run into in our lives into learning opportunities because in general, whether you are traveling or not, life will present you with unexpected hurdles, and I had 24 hours to feel, allow, embrace welcome in disappointment.
And it did not feel very good at all. It definitely showed up in my body in the form of a really tight stomach, and it kind of stayed there. I'll, I'll be honest, it stayed there in that kind of stomach place until I was actually in the air and on our way, which was again, 24 hours later. I also had a very hot.
Head because there was many thoughts about anger that kind of went along with the disappointment. And then a lot of shoulds kind of ran through my head, right? Like, we should have taken off on time. It shouldn't have happened to us. And I just want to recognize that my, I want you to see that yes, we, we logically know that these things can happen.
But I wanna invite you that it is okay when you feel a negative feeling like I did with disappointment, and then I didn't try and get rid of it. I didn't try to make myself feel better in the moment. I wasn't ready. I wasn't able to access that part of my brain. And so we. It was okay. I just added that. I just said, I'm going to be disappointed.
Feel disappointed. I just recognized and managed that disappointment in a way where I, I was able to keep myself out of blame and I was able to, to see the thoughts that I was thinking that was creating this disappointment and say, it's okay that I'm a human being that is thinking these things and feeling this way, so, When we are traveling, and in order to do it more peacefully, I want you to see that when these unexpected hurdles come up that make you feel a negative emotion as disappointment is the one I'm using for an example today that.
You wanna add, and that's okay that I feel this way. Instead of trying to, you know, patch it up and make yourself feel better right away, I needed to sit with that disappointment. Now we managed to pivot our plans and ultimately bake the best outta the situation, which was, you know, staying at a hotel, staying, getting a late checkout, sleeping as much as possible.
Being able to take the time to get in touch with the people on the other end so that we could rearrange some stuff. And we just learn that sometimes life doesn't go as planned. And that's okay. That's actually the thought that I would want you to take away from this episode that is connected with this first step of when in order to travel peacefully.
We wanna embrace disappointment and move forward. And the belief that will help you do that is the one that is, sometimes life doesn't go as planned, and that's okay. So our adventure didn't stop there. Throughout the two weeks, two more times. I can give you examples of when I was brought. Something into I what?
What came to me was things that were out of my control. So the example is twice for different days going to different countries. Our train rides were canceled due to weather. One of the countries we were visiting, or cities we were visiting had its worst storm ever on record that morning. So, right. My brain could say, why me?
Why now, out of all the days, out of all the storms. But I love that coaching has taught my brain to lean into what I do have control over and what I don't have control over. And I want to keep my peace as much as possible. And one of the main things is for you to. Learn how to weather the storms that you can't control.
And in my example, this is literally a storm, so I say it metaphorically, like weathering the storms. We can't control. But the, the trial that we had that we couldn't control, it gave me the chance to implement the coaching tool. Concept of acceptance. It is. Acceptance is the second step in the simple process to help you pivot your life to peace.
In circumstances like these, we must accept lean into, it's a storm, it's the weather. This is orchestrated right by our weather system, and God created this weather system and. We wanna lean into that is something that when they canceled the train, it wasn't their fault that the storm happened, right? It wasn't, it wasn't our fault that we missed the train or that it was canceled.
And so when you lean into accepting that, We don't have the control to change it. That, and you can get to a place of peace and clarity more quickly. And then to help you take the next steps of, okay, what are we gonna do? So just as we navigate through life's unforeseen incidents, we figured out alternatives and we pushed through because the storms of life may be unavoidable, but.
May not be unavoidable, right? But with resilience and problem solving, we can weather any storm. And so the thought to have more peaceful travels that I want you to take from this segment of the podcast is literally about, I can't control this part, and so what do I want to figure out to do next? So that kind of question is what is the best alternative for us at this moment?
So what it was for us is that we got off of the train and we got in the line to rebook as early as possible. And we went to, we wanna get as far as we can to our destination city as possible. And that did happen, but it still didn't take us all the way. And then we took an Uber and. We ended up getting to the city one hour later than when we would've originally arrived, and so it did work out, but I give a lot of it that, to leaning into the acceptance that we couldn't control this and we just had to figure out our alternatives.
Next, I wanna talk to you about the power of presence being present. In order to travel more peacefully, one of my favorite decisions about the trip that we just took was to leave my laptop at home. My nervous system before I left was really struggled with this one because when you run a business and you are leaving for a certain amount of time and then of also you're gonna be out of the country.
My brain was telling me that I really needed it, but I also know that. I didn't want to have half of my brain in the business and half of my brain there. I really wanted to be present and soak up this time with my family. So with that decision to leave it at home, suddenly there was more space to be able to concentrate on the moments, the laughter, the breathtaking views, and.
My family. If you have been a longtime listener or if, if you're not, just let you know. I have two daughters that are in college and I don't know if next year, because of the year they're in and that they might do internships if we'll be able to have the five of us go on a trip or experience like this again.
So I was really wanting to soak it all in. And so here the concept of mindfulness and presence in the moment, which moms are always asking me how they can be more present, how they can get, you know, handled distractions and how they can keep their brain focused cuz it wants to go to the future in the past and worry.
But I, this concept came alive for me on this trip and it really. Did bring me a lot of peace. So as we would navigate the hustle and bustle of our lives there, especially with all that we had planned to go visit and see, I really, really saw how essential it is to remember to unplug and stay present with our loved ones and tasks and no better way when you're traveling to, to do that.
I. When I met with my coach this week, she offered this formula about growth and growing in our business, and it was having to do with me, like having on purpose some challenges built in. So that you are yeah, that you push yourself, like this is in regards to like goals and things, but the formula included, having those challenges and goals plus growth, I'm sorry, plus rest is what I meant to say equals growth.
So challenges plus rest equals growth, and I wanted to. When, when I heard her say that, I literally was like, yes, that is also, I didn't kind of know why, but in my business to have growth, I have to have rest. And so on this trip, I knew that I knew that I hadn't had a break in a while and that I wanted to be presents for my kids and my family and really enjoy all that we had planned and what we were taking in.
And that. I know is essentially gonna come back and help me, help you because I was, I have a list of 20 podcast ideas because I took that time off, I, I, it just rejuvenated. There's this flow of creation that I know wouldn't have come if I would've just kept pushing through and wouldn't have taken this time to put my mind on the present moment that was happening.
And I want to live that my family. Is more important to me than anything. And when we're traveling as much as you can on these vacations, we wanna make one of the main goals to tap into the power of presence. Okay? So moving on to the next thing. I wanna talk to you to help you have more peace in your travels.
And this kind of isn't. My example is travel related, but I want you to relate it to your life and seeing how bringing in more peace, and that is having a life coach as a personal guide. So throughout our trip we had guides. We hire through a friend of mine who has a traveling company, people so that we, when we go to our destination, they are there to be able to go along with us, to be able to explain things, point out things.
We had some amazing guides on our trips. People who have lived in those cities all their lives, people who specialize in the places that we were going. For instance, we were at the Van Gogh Museum and our personal guide walked through and to be able to bring each painting to life with all that, the knowledge she had with a art history major.
There's no way that my experience of going through that museum would have been as vibrant and insightful if I hadn't had these guides. I wouldn't know exactly like which was the best path to go through, because of course there's so many you can't see them all. So. Throughout these trips when we have guides, it made it more peacefully because like just as a life coach offers you unique insights and perspective onto your life, these guys guides revealed what, what we might have overlooked.
And I just wanna reiterate the importance of seeking guidance and mentorship and coaching in your life. Just a gentle reminder that life, like any journey, is best navigated with a guide. Just like I feel like when you travel, the experience can be more easy, more fun, more insightful when you run into an obstacle like these guides even they gave us recommendations for places.
When we didn't know where to go or what to do. We got amazing information and when those. Previous kind of obstacles with between the weather and everything like that, when that arose, because we had hired the, the, the guides, they were able to get us to our destinations faster, make calls. They just knew and saw things that we didn't know.
So in order to travel more peacefully, I highly recommend a personal guide and to be able to travel through the journey of your life more peacefully. I highly recommend a guide in the form of a life coach. So, reflecting on the trip and the challenges we faced and the resilience we showed, I realize how much this trip mirrored the life of a busy mom.
The life coaching tools that we discuss here and in my program aren't just theoretical. They are real and they're practical. And they're effective even when navigating the winding roads of travel or the comparison of the chaotic journey of motherhood. So, as. We come to the end of this episode of Navigating Travels more peacefully.
I hope you could see how the principles of life coaching can be found in and applied to our everyday experiences from. When flight cancellations to train rides and everything that was in between for us which was, I could do a whole podcast on all the amazing, amazing things. But I just want you to remember that every setback that you may have on your travel is setting you up for great reminders.
And that I just wanna say that every disappointment. Is also a lesson learned. I will take with me of how we navigated and handled and what came up on this trip, and I will for sure use what we learned for the next one. And then every time you just get more and more peaceful in the way you travel because you get more knowledgeable and you come up with more solutions and strategies and.
Every moment right now what? Regardless of traveling or not traveling, I wanna invite you moms to know that it's a chance to be more present and mindful about your life. So I hope you reflect a little bit on these lessons. The lessons that were to embrace disappointment and so you can move forward to weather.
The storms that we can't control to tap into the power of the presence. And that to use a life coach as your personal guide and you can navigate these challenges, the busy mom way. So I invite you to reflect with your own stories of travel and I hope that you will apply them to, if you're traveling yet this summer, or maybe learn from mine so that next time you do travel, it can definitely bring you.
More peace of mind throughout that journey. All right, everyone. It was so great to be back with you. I'm so looking forward to all of the creation and ideas that I've had to share with you and to help you just become the best mom and have the greatest amount of peace of mind as we all experience the obstacles and challenges that this life brings us.
And so I will talk to you again next week. Thank you for tuning in to today's episode of The Peaceful Mind Podcast. Are you ready to take everything I teach you here and put it to work for your own life to really learn how to have peace of mind no matter what is happening around you? If so, I'd love to have you as a client, as your coach.
This is where you'll get personal and focus time on your own mind, using life coaching tools, concepts, and proven life, transforming wisdom, all through a faith-filled lens. To learn more about how we can work together, come on over to daniellethienel.com. There you'll see how to sign up for a free coaching consult and learn how to get started.
Until next time, peace be with you always.
