Don’t have time (or energy) for fun? Read my story.

Hey All!

Last time I wrote you, I mentioned that I was in Miami Beach, vacationing with family—and discussed how our relationships are the biggest predictor of our happiness. I even included a sunny photo of my immediate and extended family—all smiles!—to illustrate my point. Well, I'm back from “vacation.” And not a moment too soon…

This was my first vacation with Linor, our beloved seven-month-old daughter. I was so excited about this holiday—my first vacation to the beach in over two years! I was looking forward to my parents and in-laws getting to enjoy time with their precious granddaughter—and for my husband and me to enjoy some time off

In retrospect, I have to wonder, What planet was I on?!  

There were times in those two weeks when I was straight up miserable.Go to the beach, are you kidding? I was so exhausted taking care of Linor—in a “strange” place, a different time zone, her routine totally upended—I just wanted to sleep. But that would mean sleeping away my vacation! (Have I mentioned this was my first one in over two years?!) I actually cried to my husband—and that's when he offered up these amazing words of wisdom:

“Stella, we just have to start stealing moments for ourselves.”

Since Linor was adjusting to East Coast time, she was waking up two to three hours earlier than at home—which was really early, like around 5am! So, instead of being cranky and miserable, we decided to make the most of it and be the first ones on the beach. We took Linor and watched the sunrise, which in Florida is particularly beautiful. That’s when I snapped the above picture :).

Even though we only stayed for 20 minutes (because her next nap was coming up)...it still made all the difference.

For the first time in more than a week, I felt my mood lift. We’d had a beautiful morning with a sherbet-colored sky, a soft breeze, and our little lalka (that’s “doll” in Russian). We had just stolen a moment! Suddenly, I wasn’t resenting not getting to enjoy my vacation—but rather, I was looking forward to our next stolen moment! 

Do you see where I’m going with this?! Even when we get what we asked for, it doesn't always turn out the way we were expecting. And often, we have no control over that.

So, instead of measuring your lifetime in years, months, weeks, days, or even hours, you might try breaking time down into moments. And when you think about it, it takes many, many more moments to fill a lifetime. An infinite amount of moments—with a nearly endless amount of opportunities to go with them.

Stealing that moment on the beach for ourselves made all the difference. It gave us a wonderful sunrise together and something unexpected to look forward to: our next stolen moment, along with the awareness that things weren’t so bad. Stolen moments are like the gift that keeps on giving! And for the remainder of our vacation, we looked for moments to steal whenever we could.

It became a game for me...where else could I snatch up a piece of joy?

And here’s the thing about moments: They add up.

Before you know it, you have a pile of moments to string together to create a meaningful story…vacation…life!

Think about it: What moments could you be stealing for yourself? 

Please send me an email and tell me—I would love to hear about them!

With love,

Stella