9 Lessons You Want to Learn from a Month Long Vacation with my Family in Costa Rica

Let’s start with me creating a scene in the hotel lobby during checkout after our first three days on vacation, shall we?

We did an all inclusive close to the airport to settle into our month long vacation in Costa Rica. The experience started with us losing our 5 “pool towel” cards which cost $20 a piece to replace. So, we didn’t have pool towels and we were still going to get charged. GRRRR. 

Next, during outdoor, buffet breakfast, there was a European family (a dad and 2 boys around 7 years old) and one of the boys was whining/crying when an American guy came out to sit down and yelled, “We’re trying to eat here!” OMG I’m sensitive to vibes and this place did not feel like our kind of place.

Fast forward to checkout where we ask for a couple of bottles of water so that we don’t have to make any stops on the 2.5 hour drive to our next place. It’s one of these, “Oh we don’t have any at the front desk. Please go to the pool bar.” Then we go to the pool bar with three kids and they say, “We don’t have any, go to the sports bar.” 

We end up back at the front desk and I LOSE IT! Truly yelling loudly at Chris in the sweltering outdoor lobby in front of the checking in guests.

I ask him to hand me our Nalgene bottle because I’m going to fill it at the buffet. I don’t want to deal with these people any longer. Aren’t I so chill? 

Look, anyone who knew me before having a family would not even recognize me now. LOL I used to sleep 9 hours every night, get weekly treatments from facials to acpucpuncture and I was floating on a lotus leaf. 

There were many times on this trip where I lost my cool when I felt uncomfortable or out of place. At home I have everything set up. Everything in it’s place. Flexibility is HARD for me!

Enough about yelling in public. Let me list important things I learned:

• Watching a movie with the kids is valuable (at home I use that to look at my phone or do other things).
• Teaching the kids what MY love language is, is important
• I can have a good time even when I feel out of my element if I let myself
• Making more homemade meals is an investment in our health, family, the environment, time & money saved
• Being deeply vulnerable with my husband can bring us so much closer.
• I was “out of the real world” for a month and everything was fine. The list can wait and patience is a valuable asset in happiness. My husband was right.
• I love my work and there are many parts that don’t feel like work and I did some of those parts on the trip
• Having blocks of time to things (fun or work) is so productive in an output perspective as well as from a mental perspective.
• Space and time to look at life from the outside is priceless in proving you a way to see how you can improve your quality of life.

 There’s a saying, “Wherever you are, there you are.” Whelp, I was forced to confront things that were easy to ignore in the daily life at home. Thank you, beautiful opportunity to grow with beaches, rainforests and waterfalls in the background. HA!