Free AI web copilot to create summaries, insights and extended knowledge, download it at here

Abstract

th my children.</p><figure id="5dd4"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*[email protected]"><figcaption><i>Meditating over the Caribbean sea</i></figcaption></figure><h1 id="750d">It seemed out of reach</h1><p id="49ac">When I came to read it back I felt a moment of intense sadness. The life I described was just a pipe dream – I wasn’t really going to spend winters in St Lucia was I? Then the thought arose – well, why not? I knew other people who did; granted these were retirees like my seventy-year old aunt. But did I really want to wait that long?</p><p id="437b">Once planted the seed sprouted and grew until, following a ten-day reconnaissance trip in 2013, after Christmas I took my two younger children out of school and brought them on a journey of discovery to their grandmother’s home island in the sun – for 99 whole days. I got them into a great school, found us an apartment with a pool AND by the beach, and as my work was mostly online anyhow, we were good to go.</p><figure id="5f3e"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*[email protected]"><figcaption></figcaption></figure><p id="6868"><i>Ziplining over the rainforest</i></p><h1 id="74b0">A dream come true</h1><p id="d0e2">What an amazing time we had! I would work from the beach or

Options

anywhere I fancied on my laptop while my kids were in school and then we’d meet up when school got out and spend the afternoon swimming or going to the beach or doing one of a dozen fun things that we could never of done in winter time Britain. (My girls joined a swim club and even won a couple of awards.) And being February-born, they had birthday celebrations unlike any ever had before – a pool barbecue.</p><p id="afb9">After a wonderful Easter when my husband came to join us for two weeks, we packed up and went back home, just in time for the start of the summer term.</p><figure id="f33f"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*[email protected]"><figcaption><i>My husband Paul tries his hand at steel pans</i></figcaption></figure><h1 id="ce5a">We owe ourselves happiness</h1><p id="2dd1">I’m not suggesting that everyone wants to take off and live on the other side of the world the way I did, but I do think that life’s too short not to go after the things we really, really want, while we still can.</p><p id="6ee0">PS: As spending time in St Lucia is one of my favourite adventures in the world, I’ve been going back every winter since. Maybe you’ll join me someday… <a href="https://www.facebook.com/WETSL/">click here</a>.</p><p id="4fed"><b>©️marla bishop 2019</b></p></article></body>

My Adventure In The Sun

Although at first it seemed out of reach, I heard the call and answered…

Upheaval in the name of adventure

Five years have passed since I pulled off the adventure of a lifetime. I took my two youngest children (then aged seven and ten) out of school in the UK and went to live on the Caribbean island of St Lucia for the winter.

It meant leaving my husband behind – he couldn’t get the time off work – and also saying farewell to my eldest two (adult) children, but adventure was calling and I couldn’t resist.

The impetus

So just how did I manage to pull off a three and a month sabbatical in the Caribbean? It all started on a coaching course two years before. One of the exercises involved writing a letter to myself from an (imagined) older me.

What would you say to yourself if you had the opportunity to write a letter and send it back to a younger you? I found myself writing about an exciting life spent doing many of the things I love, including travelling and spending quality time with my children.

It seemed out of reach

When I came to read it back I felt a moment of intense sadness. The life I described was just a pipe dream – I wasn’t really going to spend winters in St Lucia was I? Then the thought arose – well, why not? I knew other people who did; granted these were retirees like my seventy-year old aunt. But did I really want to wait that long?

Once planted the seed sprouted and grew until, following a ten-day reconnaissance trip in 2013, after Christmas I took my two younger children out of school and brought them on a journey of discovery to their grandmother’s home island in the sun – for 99 whole days. I got them into a great school, found us an apartment with a pool AND by the beach, and as my work was mostly online anyhow, we were good to go.

Ziplining over the rainforest

A dream come true

What an amazing time we had! I would work from the beach or anywhere I fancied on my laptop while my kids were in school and then we’d meet up when school got out and spend the afternoon swimming or going to the beach or doing one of a dozen fun things that we could never of done in winter time Britain. (My girls joined a swim club and even won a couple of awards.) And being February-born, they had birthday celebrations unlike any ever had before – a pool barbecue.

After a wonderful Easter when my husband came to join us for two weeks, we packed up and went back home, just in time for the start of the summer term.

*My husband Paul tries his hand at steel pans*

We owe ourselves happiness

I’m not suggesting that everyone wants to take off and live on the other side of the world the way I did, but I do think that life’s too short not to go after the things we really, really want, while we still can.

PS: As spending time in St Lucia is one of my favourite adventures in the world, I’ve been going back every winter since. Maybe you’ll join me someday… click here.