Geese Tales…

I spent the work week last week in Troy Michigan at a seminar that was excellent and kept my interest for 4 days. I stayed at a Hilton Hotel in the midst of an area dedicated to bigger businesses. This is not an environment that I am familiar with nor very comfortable in.

I am a small-town gal who rather loves her wooded home area and space to breath. What I heard when I would step outside my hotel was the roar of I75 traffic not the roar of the wind in the trees or of Lake Michigan a mile away when it is all stirred up. I found that traffic roar rather unsettling.

What I did find were a few Canadian geese who seemed right at home in all the sound and big buildings and people dressed in suites. I told them to head west for a more peaceful life. They refused to budge. Imagine that!

I know people and there are lots of you who love big city life. Yes, it has its advantages…I got to an Apple Store where I found a new I-phone in like 8 minutes which was a nice side benefit to my trip. But I sure missed my kitties and my flowers and my quiet walks down the bike path and the man I married many moons ago.

I don’t think I would care to have the kind of job that forced me to travel as people have to very often. It felt lonely.

What I loathed one morning was the kind of look a man gave me in the dining room when I went down for a cup of coffee early that morning. I made the mistake of looking his direction. Didn’t do that one again. It felt really icky that look. And helped me understand just how difficult it is for women in business yet today to be taken seriously.

Fortunately, the down to earth staff of the hotel were kind and regular human beings eager to say hello. And there were like-minded people in my seminar I also was able to connect with. And the geese in the parking lot who listened to my tale of wow too! Otherwise it would have been a very long lonely week.

So, here’s to all you women and men who have to travel away from your homes so often to do your work…hats off to you for the hard work you do being so far away from your home and those you love. And I certainly hope that you have ways to ground yourself with healthy meaningful activity when you are away from home!

What helps you feel grounded when you are outside of your familiar elements?