smiling <\/em>as we pulled out of the driveway.\u00a0 I felt lighter not wearing stress and having not packed stress.<\/p>\nUpon arriving at our vacation place, I was relaxed. I was grateful. I was happy. I had my family surrounding me, and there was nothing that I \u201chad\u201d to do.<\/p>\n
Each day I took a long run or walk on the gorgeous beach that has been my home away from home since I was thirteen-years-old.\u00a0 But instead of feeling the need to cover a certain amount of miles in a certain amount of time, as I did in the vacations of the past five years, I savored the journey. I patiently looked for dolphins.\u00a0 I jotted notes in the little writing book I carried. I looked for unusual shell \u201ctreasures\u201d to take my daughters.<\/p>\n
And I reminisced about the hundreds of walks I had taken on this sand with my sister and my mom since I was a teenager.<\/p>\n
My mom recently told me I did not develop my compulsive, type A personality until I went to college. So it makes sense that as a teenager my favorite pastime at the beach was saving live sand dollars that had washed up on shore. I couldn\u2019t bear to see a helpless sand dollar withering in the sun. Regardless of how long it took or how many times I had to stop along my run, I put every washed up sand dollar that I passed back into the water.<\/p>\n
But over the years, I had stopped saving the sand dollars. In fact, I had stopped noticing them at all. I had become so driven that I only focused on the path ahead and stopped savoring the journey along the way.<\/p>\n
But on the last day of my first Hands Free vacation something happened. And it made me realize my days of delighting in the journey were not over. In one clarifying moment, I saw my progress; I saw just how far I had come.<\/p>\n
As I ran along the vast flat sand, something caught my eye in a tide pool. At first, I ran past it, but found that I could not continue running until I turned around.<\/p>\n
I realized it was a starfish, and it was missing a ray (limb). It looked like it was dead, but I felt compelled to be certain.<\/p>\n
Despite having to get my running shoes wet, I waded in and reached for it.<\/p>\n
The first thing I did was turn the little guy over. I was expecting to see no movement.<\/p>\n
But amazingly enough, its tiny tube feet waved at me.<\/p>\n
Although it looked like it had been violently churned in saltwater or perhaps was the partial snack of a small predator, it was alive<\/strong>. And it was fighting to survive.<\/p>\nAs I held that resilient critter in my hand, I suddenly realized just how far I have come on my Hands Free journey.<\/p>\n
Nine months ago this was me, struggling to breath in the chaos and upheaval that I had created for myself. I had gotten so far from home, so far from the joy in my soul that makes me feel alive and whole.<\/p>\n
As I looked at this forlorn creature and whispered, \u201cDon\u2019t worry. I will save you,\u201d tears rolled slowly down my cheeks. I was overwhelmed with gratitude for the life-changing moment I had experienced last July. The One who cares for me had lifted me up from my displacement and placed me gently back home, just as I was about to do for this starfish.<\/p>\n
And now, nine months later, here I stood in the tranquility of the sunlight, just having experienced my first ever Hands Free vacation.<\/p>\n
My hands that were once holding tightly to distraction were now free to\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\nBuilt sandcastles with my children<\/p>\n
Color pictures of princesses<\/p>\n
Hold the hands of the people I love the most in this world<\/p>\n
<\/strong><\/p>\nMy mind that was once consumed with an excessive to-do list was now free to\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\nMemorize the beautiful expressions of my daughters\u2019 joyful faces<\/p>\n
Describe my most favorite memories of vacations on this very beach<\/p>\n
Express gratitude for every God-given gift in my life<\/p>\n
My eyes that were once transfixed solely on the task ahead were now free to\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\nObserve every vibrant hue in the flowers along the bike trail<\/p>\n
Gaze patiently into the blue water until a majestic dolphin leapt with joy<\/p>\n
Count every freckle on the precious noses of my children<\/p>\n
Instead of feeling like I am always running late,<\/strong><\/p>\nInstead of feeling like I can\u2019t quite catch my breath,<\/strong><\/p>\nInstead of feeling depleted and empty,<\/strong><\/p>\nInstead of feeling lost with no direction, <\/strong><\/p>\nInstead of feeling as if each day is a blur,<\/strong><\/p>\nInstead of feeling half alive\u2026 <\/strong><\/p>\nI am free to laugh, <\/strong><\/p>\nFree to play, <\/strong><\/p>\nFree to celebrate, <\/strong><\/p>\nFree to let go,<\/strong><\/p>\nFree to breath,<\/strong><\/p>\nand free to exhale,<\/strong><\/p>\nI am finally free to live. <\/strong><\/p>\nAnd as I gently placed this beautiful creature back into the calm, sanctuary of his water home, I realized my progress. I realized that nine months of Hands Free \u201cbaby steps\u201d had taken me somewhere.<\/p>\n
Those small steps toward living a Hands Free life had taken me home.<\/p>\n
Have you noticed any progress you\u2019ve made on your own journey to live Hands Free? If so, I would love it if you leave a comment or send me an email. And if you are just arriving at this place, I just happen to have a list. See yesterday\u2019s post, \u201cWhere To Begin<\/a><\/em>,\u201d and just pick a step. You may be surprised how far one small step can take you on your quest to be Hands Free.\u00a0 Join \u201cThe Hands Free Revolution.\u201d We are just getting started and there\u2019s so much life to grasp!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This week I\u2019ve described how making small steps to let go of distraction is an effective way to begin living a Hands Free life. In Monday’s post, “The Steps of a Hero,” I described the progress that occurred in the life of one of my devoted readers from NYC.\u00a0 And maybe when he read the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1162,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[229,24,18],"tags":[237,238,239,13,231,235,232,236,230,233,234],"gutentor_comment":5,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/IMG_3862-e1301452934980.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1fUJF-iD","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1155"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1155"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1155\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.handsfreemama.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}