Joy, Friendship, and Inspiration – the trifecta to relieve stress and spark success.

Like many of us, I have been putting in a lot of hours on my work life and my business. And I needed a vacation and brain break. So, what did I do? I combined two of my passions (astronomy and photography) and planned my vacation around the solar eclipse on August 21, 2017.

I had the pleasure of doing something creative with my free time. That always relieves stress, and even though the eclipse itself took specific timing, I still felt calm and excited as I rushed from camera to camera to set up and take photos like this one.

On top of that, this sort of creative project provides an excellent chance to plan, to gather the resources, and to execute the entire thing with flair and fun. Those skills apply to many facets of life and it’s great to hone them on something so fun and exciting.

Any time I get a chance to take photos, I grab it. This event was the first total solar eclipse in the USA since 1979 and the first that went from coast to coast since 1918. And my best friend came along to share the experience. We weren’t anywhere particularly special. We were in a hotel parking lot, but that time with my best friend, doing something creative, while at the same time participating in something so magical hit the trifecta of joy, friendship, and inspiration.

Those three together made it a relaxing and thrilling time. And they revved me up for coming back and hitting the ground running in my business in a creative and inspiring way.