Tag Archives: holidays

Glamping time

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About 7 years ago my wife said she wanted to buy a camper trailer. I looked at the cost of the size of trailer she wanted, plus buying a new truck that could tow it, and I came up with an alternative. I said, ‘Here’s the deal: Any time you want to go camping, we can rent a trailer. I won’t bug you about the price, you can get the camper you want, and we can go as many times as you want’. 

As it turns out, we’ve gone once a year, missing a year, and while the cost of a trailer and a campsite runs about the same as an Air BNB, we get the full glamping (upscale camping) experience of owning a trailer, without the cost of buying and caring for one. 

What’s even better is that we’ve rented the same trailer from the same family for 4 trips now, and we know exactly what we are getting. I really enjoy our camper experience, and I am thrilled that I don’t have to drive towing it, find (and pay for) a place to park it, and do all the upkeep required… And although we might go more often if we owned one, I think we’ve saved quite a bit of money with this approach, and it encourages us to see more of the world on our other vacations. On second thought, when I think of the cost of the other vacations, maybe it isn’t as great a cost savings as I thought, but I still like the decision we made. 

Holiday training

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In less than a month I’ll be ‘Everesting the Crunch’, (follow @EverestTheCrunch on Instagram). We travelled to Kelowna yesterday, and it was a no workout day, so in keeping with my commitment to ‘never miss two days in a row’, I had to get a workout in. I decided a brisk walk up a nearby hill (x4) with pushups at the top and bottom would suffice.

Unfortunately once my heart rate was up, I could taste the smoke from nearby fires, but at least it wasn’t as bad as yesterday, when Kelowna had the worst air quality in the world. And admittedly, I was still feeling the affects of some afternoon drinks at the campsite… but off I went anyway.

Well it turned out to be a full-on 46 minute workout with my heart rate peaking above 150 at the top of the hill all 4 times, while never going faster than a brisk walk. What matters is not missing 2 days in a row, and going up hill to keep the training going for Everesting the Crunch.

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Dave Sands and I will be going up the Coquitlam Crunch 37 times in less than 48 hours, August 21st & 22nd. That’s 9km vertical, the distance walked (mostly up hill) will be 2 marathons, and it will take over 19 hours of walking time.

If you are local, you can join us for a crunch or two and/or donate to support local mental health initiatives. You can donate here.

Must do vs want to do

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I can tell it’s close to March break because I feel like a holiday is due. The biggest signal in my brain for this is that I can feel the shift in my thoughts move from, ‘What do I want to get done?’ Move more to, ‘What do I need to get done?’

At this point I’m wanting to efficiently and effectively get through the ‘must do’s’, checking off the tasks and responsibilities essential to do a good job. But those other things I really want to do, the special projects I created for myself, the extra tasks I envisioned getting out of the way before the break… these things are no longer feeling like priorities. They’ve been put on hold until after the break.

I’ve written a lot about the difference between leadership and management over the years, and the challenges of a principal’s role to do management well enough that there is time for true leadership. I can often express the importance of the role being about the leadership beyond the management, getting the things you want to do to lead done, and not just getting lost in the things that need to get done to run an organization.

What I haven’t admitted yet is that sometimes the energy level just isn’t there… like a few days before a two week holiday. Which also happens to be a time when you aren’t the only one looking forward to the break. And at these times the most important thing is to get what needs to be done off of your plate.

There are still ways to lead, to show gratitude and appreciation for others, and to be present with others… but at these times it’s perfectly ok to put the ‘want to do’ projects and plans on hold. What you can’t do is disconnect from the important things that still need to get done.

Come back from the holidays refreshed and ready to take on the world. But if you drop the ball on the ‘must do’s’ before the break, the catch upon return will keep you farther still from the ‘want to do’s’ you love about your job.

So, don’t feel guilty about putting those special projects on hold, but also don’t forget about all the things that you can do now to reduce the friction and workload, and prime yourself for the stuff you know you want to do when you return after the break. Manage all the tasks you can, focus on being productive, and you’ll pave the way for more inspired work when you return.

A chance to be with family

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I love getting together with family over the holidays. It’s a chance to focus on being together, eating, and being merry. 2025 hasn’t been easy, and it’s nice to spend the end of the year with the people I love and care about.

I hope everyone is doing the same, finding people they care about to spend time with. If not, make the hard ask. There are people who care, reach out.

Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays.

A disturbance in the force

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I’ve been feeling ‘off’ on top of issues getting a good night’s sleep, and that has thrown my schedule out of whack. Compounding this, I just joined a gym and the just over 30 minutes commute time to get there and back has thrown off my morning routine. I already get up at 5am and I’m not pushing this to 4:30 to compensate. So, I need to readjust my schedule. On top of this, I’m just 2 days away from winter vacation so my entire routine is about to get upturned anyway.

So what gives way to this? When there is a major disruption in the smooth running of my routines and habits, what breaks? Well, if I can help it… nothing. No, I won’t skip a day writing. No, I’ll never skip 2 days in a row working out. No, I won’t accept that this is a crazy time and I’ll just get back to my schedule when there is time.

That said, I’m probably going to end up moving something to the evenings. I actually have given up a puzzle I do each morning called Strands, and I don’t do Wordle first thing in the morning anymore. But more importantly, I won’t let scheduling be the reason that I don’t get my personal goals done each day.

I’ve said before that it’s the hard days that make you stick to a habit, but it’s also the way you handle your habits when your schedule doesn’t cooperate. When there is a metaphorical disturbance in the force, and things are not as they should be, these are the times habits are made or lost. Because habits are easy when they are neatly stacked into the routine of the day. But take away that routine and suddenly the habits take a lot more effort.

I guess I’ll just have to ‘use the force’… of momentum, of expectation, and of commitment to make sure that while my schedule and routines are totally disrupted, my habits will consistently prevail.

I’m back

Just spent a week at my sister’s house visiting her family and my mom. I managed to get 4 nice hilly walks in, and a casual bike ride, but by far this was the longest I’ve gone without really working out in years. I’ll count the walks as exercise days, but now I’m home and about to hit the treadmill and weights for a nighttime workout session.

Usually I find ways to do way more exercise on holidays. I did do some pushups and leg dips one day, but if I’m honest, I had the time to do that or other body weight workouts on more of the days than I did… I just didn’t do it.

This isn’t me beating myself up for taking most of the week off. Rather it’s recognition that it can be easy to let things slide if I don’t pay attention. At home, my routines make things easy. I wake up, I get a workout done. It’s that simple. On holidays I need to either: build in a routine or make a conscious effort to workout. Or if it’s a week or less, give myself permission to have an easy week.

That said, I’m back home and my basement gym is calling me.

Morning walk

I’m visiting my sister (and mom is visiting too). It’s great to be together with family, and to be somewhere where a morning walk doesn’t involve rain gear. My wife and I are continuing our tradition of going for morning walks while on holidays. I love that this little vista is just minutes away from my sister’s house.

Holidays can be hard to maintain fitness habits, and I likely won’t be visiting any gyms while here, so these morning walks are going to be a good balance to offset my sister’s awesome cooking and restaurant meals. They are a great way to start the day with something physical, and with some pretty nice views too!

Leftovers

I’m still eating turkey. We definitely didn’t need a bird as big as the one we got. We won’t get through all the leftovers we have from Christmas. But I have to say that I do love leftovers.

To me the best lunch I can have at work is yesterday’s dinner. I’ll pass on sandwiches, and skip the fast food, give me the meal I had last night.

That said, I’m just about turkey’ed out. One more day to enjoy my mostly meat diet and it’s on to new meals… and new leftovers.

Parking Karma

It’s Christmas Eve and I had some of the best parking and lineup karma I’ve ever had. Five stops and in every case the hunt for a rare open parking stall was almost instantaneous. The stores were busy but in the 3 places that we purchased items, we never waited for more than a couple people in front of us.

The lineup karma didn’t seem to be working at one location where we stepped into a very long line. Then we heard an employee, “Lanr 7 is open, lane 9, lane 3… he just kept going and we basically didn’t pause, moving constantly forward until we were in a lane with a person getting their last 3 items scanned. This was the same lineup we couldn’t get past to walk in the store, that didn’t seem to be moving at all, which made us question if we even wanted to bother shopping at this busy grocery store.

I’m back home and Spanish rice is in the oven. Next is my grandmother’s dish-baked stuffing that doesn’t get stuffed in the turkey. That’s two items that will only need reheating tomorrow, giving me time for all the other cooking to be done on feast day.

Seems the biggest lineup I’ll have to wait for all day is for space in the oven:)

Wishing all happy holidays… as well as good parking & lineup karma!

Keeping with it

Habit versus motivation: habits win.

I am lazing around on holiday. There’s nothing outwardly wrong with that, if only I could feel better about it. Yesterday my wife and I did a walk up a big hill in 33° weather (91° for my Fahrenheit friends). It was hard, but rewarding. I was impressed with my wife who had us jogging down the hill, when I would have chosen to walk.

Today it feels hotter, but I procrastinated all morning and now I still haven’t worked out yet and it’s mid afternoon. I have no idea what I’m going to do for a workout, but I know I’m going to work out… it’s just that my motivation in this heat is very low. Our tent is a steam room, too hot to stay in, and I’m sticking to the chair, sweaty, as I write this in the shade.

I have no problem working out regularly at home, it’s a habit. I wake up, start my morning routine, and before going to work I’ve worked out, meditated, and written my blog post. Meanwhile I’ve been here 3 nights, missed one workout, and didn’t blog or meditate until after 9pm 2-out-of-3 nights so far.

It’s simple: Habits are easy, motivation is hard.

I’ll need to figure out some new routines because I’m spending a good part of my holiday thinking about and avoiding things I usually get done before 7am. As for right now, I’m going to do a meditation and push myself to complete a workout despite the heat. I want it to hurt today, to motivate me to not wait until this time tomorrow. In the world of motivation I’ve learned that I prefer the stick to the carrot… the avoidance of pain rather than the promise of reward.

With good habits, I can just avoid the need for motivation altogether.