In her March 22 video, Bobbie LaPorte (with the help of a very special young guest) discusses the importance of saying “YES” and taking action in our personal lives as well as our careers. During challenging times like these, it’s more important than ever to make time for the things that make you happy and even indulge in something special for you and your family.
Why It’s Important to Make Time for Your Personal Life (meet our new puppy)
Hi everyone, Bobbie LaPorte here again with my weekly tip for your Best Next Move – where I help you have more agency in your work, acknowledge your capacity to act and see what you can do right now.
This week I wanted to shift gears a bit from work-related posts and focus on how we can also bring our capacity to act to our personal lives.
There is no doubt that the lines between our personal and professional lives have blurred over the last year+, in many cases, there has been a positive development.
Parents have been able to spend more time with their kids and other family members and cut out long commutes. But since we are mostly working from home, it has also meant that we often have what seems like a never-ending workday – and that means many other aspects of our personal lives – exercise, travel, hobbies and interests – have gone by the wayside.
So, this is where my personal story comes in.
Many of you know that we have been rescuing and raising Golden Retrievers for nearly 3 decades. Last summer we unexpectedly lost our oldest Golden – Mona Lisa – which left us stunned and grief-stricken for weeks.
Months later, we started to discuss getting a new puppy – but with everyone working from home, the waiting list with all the breeders we contacted was months, if not years long. We assumed it would be a long wait….until mid-February when we received a text from a breeder in Palm Springs who said, “If you are receiving this message, we have a puppy for you.”
The timing wasn’t great, and we knew this would be a lot of work and a major disruption to our routine – but we said “Yes,” knowing the opportunity might not come again soon.
So last Friday we drove 12 hours each way from Lake Tahoe to Palm Springs to pick up Nilla.
You have to watch the video to meet her. It was a road trip for the ages to be sure, but we are thrilled she is now part of our lives.
Here’s my tip:
Don’t put off the things you miss, the things that make you and your family happy. If it’s in your control – take that trip or outing, renew that hobby or interest you had pre-Covid, indulge in something special for yourself or your family.
We all need to invest in and restore those precious parts of our personal lives that we have sacrificed over the last year, the things that keep us balanced and able to contribute more fully across all the domains of our lives.
I want 2021 to be a year of momentum for you, one of possibility thinking where you take advantage of the agency, we sometimes forget we have.
That’s my tip for this week. Back to the Nilla – she is a very busy little girl!
I’ll see you next Monday; take care of yourselves!
That puppy is sooo cute! One of my favorite posts. And a good reminder.