“Mommy you look 10 years younger,” my first reaction was to giggle and dismiss my daughter’s casual comment to me. Then I began to think about it.
Often, people tell others they look good or even amazing, often preceded by have you been away as if that could be the reason for the improvement.
Most of us have learned to take comments from who they come and sort them out accordingly. The comment from my daughter falls into the category of a very reliable source and what she said she meant with complete sincerity, so I believed her. From a young age and now well into adulthood, my children have always been blatantly honest with me. From this moment I went from typically hearing mommy have you been sleeping? hint hint, to mommy you look 10 years younger! This statement required attention and much thought from me.
Working in the travel industry for nearly 25 years, I have been responsible for sending people on the most wonderful vacations around the globe. This has always been my solution, if their goal is to feel renewed, to have fun, to gain a sense of freedom and wander off to take in a new corner of the world with all its unique culture and cuisine. It is almost a guarantee that clients return feeling great, energized and come out of their journey feeling quite renewed. Upon return they will hear comments that they look amazing, coupled with the curiosity of what had they been up to recently because they have an obvious possession of tranquility and pure bliss about them.
I began to think about the need and desire to feel renewed, or to have fun, to feel charged up on a daily basis. It is a concept that sits tucked inside all of us, no doubt, and it is something we yearn for, and that we require in order to obtain the tranquility that we may gain from traveling. But most of us cannot go on vacation as often as we would like to. This is when I realized that what my daughter had said to me was huge. My last vacation was a little over a year ago, so it was not the vacation that contributed to the way I looked. Her comment about me looking 10 years younger spoke volumes. Obviously I do not really look that young but I do look different these days. I do not typically look at myself in the mirror. I do, literally, glance at myself for a brief moment daily, to make sure there isn’t anything odd with myself, but I am not one to focus that much on how I really look. Now, I went to look in the mirror in order to see if I could understand what my daughter said to me.
The bags under the eyes would probably always exist on my face. They were still there according to all the mirrors in my house. But then I noticed it. It was the area around my mouth that extended into my cheeks. It was a smile that just remained there. It felt good. Now I realized the affect of a smile on the human body. It has been generating a sort of glow that I had obviously been feeling internally but I had no idea that it was so visible from the outside.
I found my smile, not the one that is temporary but rather one that is permanent. It is wonderful, it does not have a price tag on it, it is something that can develop from within your body.
Try and find your smile, find that place in your life that does not require a vacation. When you do find it, and you will, as you begin to thrive allow it in and let it beam on out all over your face. You too will not only look 10 years younger but most important and significant is that you will feel bliss, that is a great goal to add to your bucket list, in my opinion. Once you do, definitely focus on your vacation choice and your time traveling, I am sure the experience will be unique, like no other one you have ever had!