Weathering the Storm with the WP#59

I am now in week 3 of my return to school and the balancing act continues and certainly am challenging myself. Of course, the end goal is the same and that is to be across the pond with a special someone. This week included working four 10-hour days in a row as my trade off for having three solid days to focus on the other aspects of my personal and professional life, my clients, school and of course, Rosa.  This year has been amazing, and it has only reached the end of the first quarter and so much has gone on. By the way, happy spring to all you out there and again, my heart goes out to those in Ukraine and what is happening there. Maybe, they will get a break, but it does not look that way, for the near future. 

I was thinking and in discussion with colleagues that 2022 would be a good year as we hopefully move forward on the Covid front, but for me, and I can’t explain it, has been amazing. I knew it would be good if the pandemic slowed down and even with the crisis in Ukraine, it has been tremendously satisfying seeing how people want to venture out again. My colleagues thought that maybe 2023 or into 2024, things would really look much brighter, but I have been blessed with many travels to be arranged, let alone my own. I do believe we are overall in a better place and have a better understanding of Covid and have the means to handle it, even as new variants rear their ugly heads. The answer, from my point of view is the vaccine and people can disagree, but I did it, selfishly enough, or maybe not,  and the booster and will do it again so I can travel and remain as safe as possible. 

This blog is not all that is above but finding a balance in my life and with the addition of school, my job, and my passion, which is travel planning and Rosa, there are just not enough moments in the day to cover everything, but I try. I have found myself up early and staying up late, but that is fine. The goal is to make sure that my clients are well taking care of, and I make the time for the other aspects of my life. I have never been a 9-5 person and never was good, being put into a box. I make time for all my clients, day or night, and weekends don’t mean a thing to me. For the outside job, yes, I have hours there and must work a weekend day, and the responsibilities are very important as well, and for that, I have structure. My structure outside of that, my clients, my schooling, and my time with Rosa, are all what I call organized chaos and frankly, I thrive on it and always have and when someone says I can’t do it, I will figure out a way. 

My life has been one of variety and trying different things, be it foods, the travels I have done and the number of careers I have undertaken and here I am still going after almost 25 years in the travel industry and loving that I have weathered the storm and gotten through crisis after crisis and proving that I can be there for my clients, my friends, and yes, my family, for the most part and for Rosa, who I will be seeing again, in person, sooner, rather than later. Yes, next month, if all goes well, after attending a conference in Barcelona, she will meet me there, so we can have time together for a long weekend. If that happens, then we will not have to wait until July to be together again. Oh, yes, and air tickets bought for that and a place to stay in Rome, already done. If someone says I can’t do something, I will figure out a way. That is how I have always done things and not going to stop anytime soon. 

I am busier now, I believe, than even in the banner year that was 2019, BC, and I am moving forward. I will do what I must do in both my professional and personal life and for the first time in my life, I am extremely happy with both, something I had never experienced before. I am also a very lucky man, as you all know, to have such a wonderful lady in my life. She has brought a balance to me that I had never experienced before. She challenges me in her own special way and yet can calm me when I do feel stressed, and I try to do the same for her. It is very much a balance and one I had never experienced, so even on my most stressful days, or her most stressful days, we have each other, even from a distance and when we chat on WhatsApp, that distance disappears and gives me even more reason to push forward to make her happy, my clients happy and of course, myself happy. Keeping in balance has not been easy, but nothing worthwhile in life is, so between keeping things simple and real and trying to find balance in all aspects of life is what I truly strive for in all this organized chaos. 
As always, I am interested in your thoughts, comments, questions and adding to the discourse is always appreciated be in on the site itself or on Facebook, Twitter or wherever you read this. Thank you for your support of this small business and it is truly appreciated!!!