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Last weekend, I went to a coaching conference in Washington D.C.

While I was there, I had very little hunger. As a result, I didn't eat very much the entire weekend.

As I thought back on the weekend, I wondered why I had eaten so little. I had few urges to eat and rarely even thought about food.

I considered the fact that I was very busy having a lot of FUN. I was with a wonderful group of coaches, learning and socializing together all weekend long. On Saturday, we went to see the cherry blossoms in the city.

Saturday night was purely social ' I even got talked into doing karaoke.

Yes, me -- 'Stop in The Name of Love' may never sound the same again! :-)

But I don't think those factors really made the difference, because I keep very busy here at home, and I can create fun anytime I want to.

The really important factor seemed to be more about what was NOT there during the weekend ' factors such as phones, faxes, email, hungry children, dirty laundry, dishes piled in the sink, and a dog that pesters me to go walking (not a bad thing!)

Demands, responsibilities, stress ' all zapped out with one simple plane flight!

It's not that I would change my life in any extreme way, but it sure is nice to extract the stress and see what is there.

It reminded me of a saying I once heard 'under stress we say yes!'

It's the self-talk I didn't hear . . .

'I'll just have _______, then I will be able to ________.'

And the constant demands and responsibilities, all by my own choosing, "Mom, can you _________? "Honey, would you mind ________? "If I can just get these last few chapters written . . ."

I realize that I can recreate that stress-free feeling by doing kind things and taking more time for me.

I tend to work too hard, and can feel overwhelmed trying to meet all the demands.

I can be more intentional about decreasing stress, setting more boundaries and counteracting stress with fun activities and social time.

I don't know anything that will increase stress more than failure to set boundaries.

A break from all those responsibilites and demands sure makes life look a lot clearer.

How about you? Are you taking enough time for you? What can you subtract in your life to feel less stressed?

Here's to seeing cherry blossoms more often!

Copyright 2006 Carol Solomon