Think about it. When you’re upset about something that happened before you got to work, how do you then perceive things or people at work? Do you think your emotions affect your decision making? Even if we don’t think they do, research shows, in fact, that they do.

A study by the Yale Center on Emotional Intelligence showed that teachers who were in a bad mood were more likely to give students lower grades, than those who were in more positive moods. Ever had a to give a performance review on a bad day? Or received a review on a day when your boss was having a bad day or week? Hmmm.

Emotions, research shows, actually spread like a virus…that goes for either negative and positive emotions (except that we are more wired to see the negative because we are predisposed for what’s known as negative bias – survival comes first). So choosing positivity actually takes more effort for some of us. What emotion do you want to spread?

I recently attended the Mindful Leadership Summit in Washington, DC, my second time at this inspiring and informative conference, where I saw old and new friends and colleagues bringing mindful awareness and emotional intelligence to organizations and businesses all over the world. The high value of mindful awareness, emotion in work and life are more obvious than ever. Did you know that high school students experience negative mood states 75% of their day? Or that only 30% of North American workers feel engaged at work? Workers report feeling stressed, anxious, tired, helpless, irritated. Does this resonate for you?

How can you manage your emotions to be a better leader and influential contributor no matter where you work and what you do for a living? It starts with being aware of, and knowing the nuances of, your emotions. This is difficult for most of us.

Well…there’s an app for that! The Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence created an easy to use, very valuable way for us to determine our emotions, and consequently what we need more or less of in or lives. Take a look atMoodMeter *. It’s .99 to download. If you do decide to use this app I hope to hear what you think of it, and how it affects your day-to-day experience. *I have no affiliation with this app.

As I do more work to help us with our intersection of mindful awareness and work, I have decided to (finally) update my website to reflect even more of who and what I’m about. I’d love your feedback on my new website, and logo, as it develops! I’ll be posting updates on my Daisy Swan & Associates facebook page, which has been rather low energy of late. I hope you’ll hop on and stay tuned for more information and community activity there.

I wish you peace and calm even in the midst of this remarkably turbulent time. Finding the way to be steady, open, kind, and genuine while being busy and achievement-oriented is a tall order. But it is possible.

You know that feeling. It’s like the gears just don’t connect, there’s no traction, no energy to accelerate. If you’re a mom who’s burned out from taking care of everyone at home (and at work, playgroup, your extended family too), it’s predictable that your feelings of guilt, anxiety, resentment and outright anger are building to the point where you’re afraid you will blow like a rocket.

That’s super scary because if that happened, you’re sure you’d ruin everything.

So what can you do instead? It’s not your habit to share with others what’s really going on inside. Your habit is to go underground with your feelings. In fact, as your anxiety grows, you take fewer healthy steps to feel better. Instead of reaching out to a friend, you tell yourself you need to work harder, and, well, get over yourself.

“Try harder; be a better mom, a better wife, a better employee; buck up and stop being such a baby. You need to look the part you’re playing.”

Instead of honoring your feelings, you mistakenly think it’s all about what you’re not doing well enough.

Ugh.

Burnout is mind and soul numbing. When my son was little I felt like I was running a marathon. Every. Day. Until I changed my life and work completely. You don’t have to go quite as far (unless that’s your path), but there are certainly some kernels of wisdom in the changes I made.

Here are 5 things I wish I knew when I was in the middle of burning out. YOU can benefit from them too so you don’t burn out completely:

1. Rest. Moms who feel burned out are tired. I was always on the go, taking care of anything my son or husband wanted. Going to work, stopping for groceries on the way home and then making dinner. Homework, clean up, bedtime rituals. A little TV time with my husband. Rest? Are you kidding? It takes discipline to rest, but just taking 15 minutes to close your eyes, follow a meditation or body scan audio, will soothe your nervous system. It works.
2. Ask for help and take it. I admit I thought I had to do everything myself, do things perfectly, and felt guilty if I did things just for me. Yes, being with our kids fulfills us, but don’t forget that other things used to, too. Find your ‘other’ thing and make it a real priority. Everyone will be happier.
3. Take a real look at your work; it may be time to seriously shift. You may not be the person you were when you started this career, and vice versa. Are you using your strengths or are you trying to be someone you aren’t by stretching yourself too far?
4. Tap your imagination for options. Moms who feel burned out believe things have to be the way they are. But they don’t. Get your hands on some magazines and pull out images of what looks refreshing and inviting to you. See what’s calling you. Get out that journal and write about all of your successes, your strengths, and if you can’t remember them ask others to help you. Even if it feels embarrassing, do it. You’ll feel better.
5. Ask yourself what you’re really here for. As in What’s your purpose? Knowing your purpose, deep down, can help you gain clarity about the next simple actions to take, that can help you to genuinely re-engage in your life.

Brene Brown and Judith Warner have shed light on the shame we women feel when we don’t do motherhood (or, well, everything) seamlessly, perfectly, without help, while being effortlessly skinny and put together.

Living life real, with humor and imperfection, can be messier, but more creative and fun for everyone. Let’s banish the burnout, and really live.

When I was in my 20s I was trying to figure out my next steps in life, often feeling bewildered and doubtful. How would I know the right moves for me? I had notions of my own criteria for what I wanted in my life and I saw that some of my ideas seemed different than those of my friends. Nonetheless, I found that I was measuring myself against others to chart my progress. It seemed like I was working hard at keeping up, or catching up,  and then worked hard to surpass my friends in my own fashion. That’s a lot of evaluating progress. A lot of pressure. Over time, I did find my own path, my own rhythm, and I came to trust myself and my goals. I gained confidence in my strengths and life journey no matter how unique.

Keeping score is something we all do, regardless of who we are, right? We tend to mark our progress in life, work, and relationships by comparing ourselves with our imaginary (and sometimes real) jury of peers. As we age, we have the potential to see through the comparison trap; however, certain events—birthdays, anniversaries (or lack thereof) and career transitions—compel us to take stock of where we are.

Lately I’ve been talking to a lot of people in their 50s, both friends and clients, who are at this rather loaded checkpoint. The 50s decade has traditionally been a time to make retirement plans, schedule golf games, and scout good weather locations. I mean sure, retirement sounds attractive in the abstract; however, many of us are invigorated by the interesting work we do and too much leisure time just sounds boring. Many of us recognize our need to work for financial reasons and are even content to do so, but want the next two decades to feel different from the last three. And then also, some of us find ourselves unexpectedly single and dating (!) which wasn’t necessarily part of the plan. As our culture shifts, the 50s seem further away from retirement age; instead, many people are planning their next career move, making decisions that will potentially take them well into their 70s.

Where is the map that charts this territory in the 21^st century? While comparing ourselves to our peers is no longer the goal, it does help to see how others are mapping out their future. Damn the negative self-talk I hear so often that says ‘I’m too old to do anything new,’ or ‘you have to know coding to do anything these days.’ The way I see it, the new “younger old-age” is up for grabs. Using our knowledge, connections, creativity, and the blessed internet we can create a new vision, in short, for our very own map. So, if you’re awake at 2:00 AM thinking about life in your 50s and beyond, call or email me; I’m probably up too. I’m investigating. I’m clearing the terrain to navigate new paths. Cartography is, indeed, in progress.

I was recently invited to share some of my best stress-busting tips in a guest post on the Motto Blog.  You can read my tips here.

Baby boomers closing in on the traditional retirement years often seek purpose and a paycheck in a second career, also known as an encore experience, next chapter or “unretirement”. Whatever the term, nonprofit work — focused on addressing society’s pressing needs and promoting arts and culture — has a particular allure for many in this group.  Read More…

Source: New York Times

I was pregnant with my unborn son and already had ideas for what sort of work he would do as an adult. I figured that, with my interest in people and wanting the best for others combined with my then husband’s analytical brain and approach to the world, that our son could be an important weather scientist who could predict terrible storms and save hundreds of lives.

Ok, so maybe this sounds a little nutty. But really, don’t we as parents think about our child’s future all the time. Who will they be? How will this little person’s life turn out? We spend hours researching schools and encouraging our children to do well in school. We are constantly doing things for our child’s future. But oddly enough parents often unknowingly overlook sharing some very important information that could greatly impact their child’s future – they don’t share the realities of the work world and what it takes to create a fulfilling career.

There are so many reasons why this happens; we lead busy lives and often it’s the kids’ lives’ that take center stage on a day-to-day basis. Homework, sports, music lessons, juggling chores, and parental work obligations means that a lot of families barely have time to sit down and talk over a meal. Parents themselves may have less than satisfying work that pays the bills but leaves them frustrated and stifled. So how does a parent teach their kids how to navigate into the world of work? Often they hope that the right college education will take care of it. Or a good family business will be the ticket, or a family history of a particular profession will make it clear what career path is expected. So the fact remains, we want the best of our children, but often don’t know how to help them get to that thing we hope for: that our kids will be ‘successful’ with a happy life.

As a career transition professional for nearly 20 years I have worked with hundreds of people who work in a huge cross section of the work force. I often work with young people who feel lost, and frustrated about their lives. College educated and rudderless, they are frustrated by having ‘so many interests’ but feel bored and under challenged in work and in life.

They feel like failures because they haven’t figured out what they want to be ‘when they grow up’ by age 25. And at 28 they are confused and disheartened after trying on a few career paths that haven’t felt or looked the way they thought they would.

There is one constant that I regularly encounter: nobody told them it would be like this. So where do young people learn about careers and the work place? They learn a lot from TV and movies, and certainly from the people they are closest to – parents, extended family members, friends’ parents and teachers. School offers ‘career week’ when speakers come in to school and give a brief talk about what they do. And in college they have the career center to use for guidance…if they take the time to search out these services.

Our kids learn so much from parents about how work works. They learn that work is a drag if mom and dad come home complaining, they learn that work is to be avoided if they see how miserable Dad is on Sunday night, or that work can be fun if it’s approached with enthusiasm and interest.

What they often don’t see is that it takes a lot of time for a career that works to take shape. And what I want to see is more parents taking the time to develop their kids interests as they grow and develop so that when they are old enough to take action to launch their careers, they will have an idea of the speed at which they can go and have reasonable expectations.

I’ve compiled several tips to help parents ‘support’ and encourage their kids’ understanding of the world that awaits them in regards to work.

1) Really listen and look at your child. What activities do they gravitate towards? Ask them what they like to do, watch what they choose to do. Most kids love media. They learn from media. What do they watch? What do you help them watch? With all of the educational programming on TV it would be easy to find something that can appeal without being cartoons or mindless entertainment.

2) Are they interested in video games? What kind? What are they learning from them? What skills might they be developing? Do they design things? Interact in the game? Are they playing games that help them to compete against others or themselves?

3) Do you talk about the games they play? Do you play games with them? What can they, and you learn from Monopoly? What do they learn from playing Life, or Trouble or Scrabble? All of these games have life lessons. Monopoly offers great ways to talk about the real estate market in your neighborhood. It offers great lessons in saving and spending money, or in the role of luck and happenstance in life. What role has luck played in your life? I recently told my son the quote “The harder I work, the luckier I get.” That gave him something to think about…

4) How do you teach about work ethic and standards in the work place? Have discussions about what you like and don’t like when you go into a store. Did a salesperson help you or provide lousy service? How do you feel when you’re ignored by a sales person vs. when someone is courteous and efficient? Going shopping helps your child see what standards you set for them.

5) Talk with your kids about the challenges you have in dealing with your boss, your co-workers, or those you manage. The more they can understand about what you do on a day-to-day basis, the better. It helps them imagine you beyond what they see. If you can take them to work that will help envision their future in a work place. By the time our kids are out of college new jobs, technology and business structures will be in place, but the fundamentals of work never change.

How – and where – do you find the meaning and value of what you do in your life?

Hopefully, the work that you’re doing is feeding you (and your loved ones) in more ways than one. But I know for many of you, the nourishment feels – or actually is – less than what you desire.

Take a moment to check in right now, and think about how your work (and home!) life is adding up for you. The following short quiz will help you assess signifiers that are important to most of us:

1) When I wake up, I think about the people and the projects that I get to work with in the upcoming day, and feel energized to get going.

2) My significant other/friends look to me for advice about managing their time and money because I have found ways to juggle my fun and responsibilities, so that I’m not out of balance all of the time.

3) I work out or do some sort of physical activity at least three days per week because it makes me feel good, and I enjoy the break it gives me from work and home pressures.

4) The creative and logical sides of my brain are put to use almost equally each week at work and/or at home. This affords me the opportunity to try new ways of looking at projects and people.

5) My compensation is appropriate and fair for the work that I do. While I’d like to make more money, I know that I’m earning a reasonable income for my work.

6) I feel heard and seen at work and at home, and know that I’m able to communicate clearly with the people around me.

If you answered “NO” to three or more of these questions, you are most likely one of the people who is looking for a new way to live your life in 2014. I know what it’s like to answer those questions with “NO’s”. We want more “YES’s” in life!

The coaching and classes that I offer, help my clients to enjoy more of those “YES’s”.

A diploma from a highly selective college means higher pay in certain fields. In others, it makes almost no difference at all

Source: WSJ.com

For all the thought that families put into choosing a college, very often the decision is dominated by a simple line of reasoning: The more prestigious the school you attend, the higher your salary will be after you graduate.

So, they focus their efforts on getting their children into the best possible college they can afford, figuring that even if they’re paying more tuition now, they’re maximizing earnings down the road.

But that formula doesn’t always hold true. And following it blindly can leave graduates burdened with much more debt than necessary when they get out of school.

We reached that conclusion after analyzing a survey of thousands of college graduates and looking at what they were making a decade after they got out of school. What we found: Diplomas from prestigious schools boost future earnings only in certain fields, while in other fields they simply don’t make a difference.

Specifically, for business and other liberal-arts majors, the prestige of the school has a major impact on future earnings expectations. But for fields like science, technology, education and math, it largely doesn’t matter whether students go to a prestigious, expensive school or a low-priced one—expected earnings turn out the same. So, families may be wasting money by chasing an expensive diploma in those fields.

How much of a role does the prestige of a college or university play in a student’s career success? Brigham Young University professor of economics Eric Eide, lead author of a broad study of college graduates, explains that is has a lot to do with a student’s major.

The question of prestige and future pay is complicated in other ways, too. Students may not actually be able to get into their desired major at a prestigious school, for one thing, further undermining the value of their choice. And some who do land their major of choice may face other concerns: It may take them longer to graduate than another major would—or they may not graduate at all, which would limit or erase the hoped-for salary advantage.

When prestige matters
In our study, we looked at about 7,300 college graduates 10 years after graduation. We divided their majors into several categories: business, engineering, science, social science, humanities, education and other. And we used three broad classifications for college type: selective, which covers elite schools and other highly competitive institutions; midtier; and less selective, which covers schools with open enrollment.

What we found startled us. For STEM-related majors, average earnings don’t vary much among the college categories. For example, we find no statistically significant differences in average earnings for science majors between selective schools and either midtier or less-selective schools. Likewise, there’s no significant earnings difference between engineering graduates from selective and less-selective colleges, and only a marginally significant difference between selective and midtier colleges.

What’s going on? For potential employers, the skills students learn in these fields appear to trump prestige—possibly because curriculums are relatively standardized and there’s a commonly accepted body of knowledge students must absorb. So, a student may not need to attend the best possible school to ensure a good salary after graduation. (It’s important to note that we controlled for numerous other factors that might influence postgraduation earnings, such as family income, race/ethnicity, gender, marital status, SAT score, postgraduate degree and age at graduation and more.)

Our findings are crucial for families to understand because chasing a prestigious STEM degree can leave students burdened with huge amounts of unnecessary debt. Financial aid can certainly help, but for many families, the cost of education can still differ dramatically across schools. For example, if an engineering student chose to attend the University of Pennsylvania instead of Texas A&M, the average starting salary would differ by less than $1,000, but the tuition difference would be over $167,000. At that slightly higher salary, you’d have to work for more than 150 years before you make up for that vast tuition difference.

The starkest earnings differences are for business majors, where graduates from the selective institutions earn 12% more on average than midtier graduates and 18% more than graduates from less-selective colleges. Likewise, social-science majors from selective colleges earn 11% more than their midtier counterparts and 14% more than those from less-selective schools.

For education majors, the differences are 6% and 9%, respectively. In humanities, graduates of selective schools earn 11% more than those from less-selective ones, although they don’t earn more than those from midtier schools.

There are many possible explanations for the disparities. In business, more prestigious schools may offer better alumni networks and other connections with potential employers. In other fields of study, more prestigious schools may offer better peer connections, faculty, university resources and, at least in social science and the humanities, access to better graduate programs. Whatever the reason, parents and students may be justified in looking for a prestigious degree in these majors.

Digging into numbers
The obvious, practical takeaway from all this is that families should really dig into the numbers. Because college is potentially one of the biggest investments a family will make, students and their parents should search out the information necessary to calculate the costs and expected future earnings associated with colleges and majors.

Colleges offer financial-aid calculators that let families figure out tuition costs, and sites like PayScale.com and College Scorecard offer information about median earnings by college or by major after graduation; PayScale, for one, also offers that information for specific majors at specific schools.

Additionally, many academic departments keep track of their graduates’ job placements, so families can find out, for instance, how many liberal-arts graduates from the University of Colorado ended up in management-trainee positions or teaching posts compared with graduates from Harvard University.

But the data can often be more nuanced than they appear. For one thing, there’s the obvious point that all these numbers are averages: Any individual’s actual salary may fall above or below those figures.

In addition, there’s the question of opportunity costs. When choosing a major, families must consider how long it will take to complete it—because it might involve staying in school longer, driving up the cost of tuition and lowering potential earnings.

Consider a student who is deciding whether to major in engineering or economics, and suppose that it takes one year longer to complete an engineering degree. The starting salary for economics majors in 2015 is $52,100, according to PayScale.com, So if it takes an extra year to complete a degree in engineering relative to economics, then there is an opportunity cost of $52,100 associated with engineering because the student entered the labor force a year later.

In practical terms, if engineering graduates make about $10,000 per year more than economics grads, then it would be about five years before engineering students would make up the lost salary. It could be up to 10 years if you add in the direct costs of tuition and living expenses for that extra year if the student is at a selective university.

Beyond dollars and cents
Families should also remember that even if students get into a chosen school, there’s no guarantee they’ll be able to pursue the major they want. At some universities, high-demand majors have limited enrollment, which means facing another selection process even after being admitted to the school. Grades in prerequisite courses are usually a big part of the admission process, so students should look at their record and consider the odds of being admitted to the program.

Additionally, many students pursue an undergraduate degree because of the option it gives them to pursue their desired graduate-school program. Someone may choose to study liberal arts because they believe it’s good preparation for law school, and they aren’t concerned with the potential earnings with an undergraduate degree in that field. In such a case, the student should seek information about graduate-school placements from their desired major at the schools they are considering.

Finally, it’s important to bear in mind that the monetary costs and benefits are just one part of the burden that students will be carrying. There can also be psychic costs to consider. Most people find studying and being evaluated to be stressful. The more competitive the institution, the more academically able are the peers, and so many students who were at the top of their class in high school will find they are average or lower at a highly competitive institution or in a particularly challenging major. This can be a difficult adjustment.

On the other hand, the emotional benefits of a school—such as living alone for the first time, experiencing campus life and being around new peers—may be more important to some students than a cold calculation of financial rewards.

Ultimately, the decision on a college comes down to the student’s aptitudes, interests and preferences. But families should be sure that choice is informed by realistic information about how college will affect a student’s future.

Source: WSJ.com

Goodbye, Golf Clubs. Hello, Hiking Boots and Kayak.

Source: New York Times

By ABBY ELLIN

Mr. Roberts, a retired teacher and software engineer, is on a mission to navigate the United States powered only by his two legs and two arms. Hotels and lodges are out of the question; he camps out at night and lugs 25 pounds of equipment — including his tent, sleeping bag and food — on his back.

And oh yes: Did we mention he is 72 years old?

“I expect to keep doing it until I get tired of it,” said Mr. Roberts, who is currently on a 3,000-mile “ramble” across Texas, weaving through at least 40 national parks and averaging about 23 miles a day.

Some people retire to golf courses. Others travel. And then there are those who enjoy physical challenges, traversing hiking trails, rivers and mountains: Huck Finn meets Grizzly Adams.

Twenty-five percent of the guests who travel with Mountain Travel Sobek, for example, are between 55 and 64; 21 percent are over 65. The oldest is 88, according to Kevin Callaghan, the adventure firm’s president. Not all of them engage in strenuous activity but even the least demanding trips typically involve a fair amount of walking or modest hiking.

About 20 percent of REI Adventures’ business comes from customers over 60; most of Nomadic Expedition’s clients are between 60 and 65, and about 65 percent are female. Twenty-seven percent of Backroads’ walking and hiking guests come from this age group.

Christina Shrewsbury, 68, a musician in East Amherst, N.Y., and her husband, Ron, a retired analytical chemist, have taken six trips with POMG Bike Tours, a cycling outfit in Richmond, Vt. “We’ve biked up to 100 miles a day,” Ms. Shrewsbury said. “It’s very important to have goals and a plan. Now is the time to do it.”

Besides the joy of being outdoors and letting the wind blow them where it will, the appeal of these endeavors varies. For Dale Sanders, 80, who calls himself the Gray Beard Adventurer, it’s about breaking records. Last year, he became the oldest person to solo paddle the Mississippi River, while raising about $23,000 for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

For Bernice Ende, 61, a former ballet teacher who goes by the moniker Lady Longrider and says she has logged almost 30,000 miles across the United States on horseback, it’s about a return to a childhood passion. For Janene Bray, 60, who spent 45 days trekking the Camino de Santiago, which follows an old pilgrimage route for 500 miles across northern Spain, it was about doing something for herself after her three children left home.

“I needed to prove to myself that I could do something alone,” said Ms. Bray, an artist in Prescott, Ariz. “My kids thought for sure I’d kill myself.” (She felt safe, she said, although a woman was murdered on the road in the spring, and there have been reports of sexual assaults over the last few years. “You just use common sense,” she said.)

Sunny Eberhart, 77, a retired eye doctor, who goes by Nimblewill Nomad, lives mostly out of his pickup truck because, well, why not?

“Put me in the great outdoors, preferably the mountains, and you’ve got a happy camper,” said Dr. Eberhart. (He uses his niece’s home in Missouri as a mailing address and occasionally swings by to pick up his mail.)

Most of these adventurers do it on the cheap, living off Social Security and incurring minimal expenses. Ms. Bray spent about $3,000, with airfare, on the trip to Spain; Mr. Roberts’s biggest costs have been replacing equipment that was lost, stolen or ruined along the way.

The lure of adventure also motivates people to stay strong. To prep for his excursions, George MacNaughton, 70, a former executive in Nahant, Mass., hits the gym a couple of times a week and does chores outside. He derives as much pleasure from planning a trip as actually taking it; he can easily spend a month poring over maps, checking out the latest equipment, calculating mileages and projecting times for any given trail.

“I’m racing to beat the aging cartilage in my knees,” said Mr. MacNaughton, who has been retired for about 15 years and has nine children. Last year he hiked and camped in Isle Royale National Park in Lake Superior; and MacNaughton Mountain (no relation) in the Adirondacks; canoed on the Androscoggin River in New Hampshire; and backpacked the Wonderland Trail around Mount Rainier in Washington with Fitpacking, an adventure travel company.

Mr. Roberts has always been adventurous; he was a Peace Corps volunteer in Liberia in the 1970s. But then life took over. He married, raised a daughter and divorced in the 1980s. In the early ’90s, he said, he dreamed that St. Peter confronted him at the Pearly Gates, “Why didn’t you take advantage of what they had to offer down there?” he remembers being asked.

The question percolated in his mind for years. In 2002, he quit his job and rejoined the Peace Corps. When he returned home, he bought a boat and sailed across the North Atlantic.

In 2014, he and his daughter, Ivy, hiked all 2,190 miles of the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine. He then cycled the 3,000 miles to Key West, Fla., before heading to the 1,300-mile Florida Trail. From there, he rode from Pensacola to Minnesota, some 1,500 miles.

He sold his bike, picked up a kayak and paddled the Mississippi River to New Orleans. He chronicles his expeditions at DavidOwenRoberts.com, and has self-published a few books.

Mr. Roberts now plans to hike the Pacific Crest and Continental Divide trails, which, along with the Appalachian Trail, are considered America’s hiking Triple Crown.

There have been some mishaps along the way. His kayak was stolen, and it cost $1,500 to replace. Another time, when he washed in a Florida pond, he found it was infested with mites, causing unbearable itching.

Greg Ferris, 67, a retired economist and friend from the Peace Corps days, joined Mr. Roberts last November on a cycling trip from Annapolis, Md., to Chapel Hill, N.C., riding about 40 miles a day.

“It was brutal,” recalled Mr. Ferris, who persuaded Mr. Roberts to sleep in hotels a few nights. “One evening I was probably lamenting our luck with the rain and midteen temps when Dave responded with, ‘If nothing goes wrong, it’s not an adventure.’ I thought that notion cut right to the chase.”

Richard Sojourner would agree. Last May, Mr. Sojourner (“With that kind of last name, this is what I’m supposed to be doing.”) joined Mr. Sanders for his record-making trip on the Mississippi. But 15 days shy of the finish, Mr. Sojourner, 71, a former police officer who had an artery bypass operation in 2004, got heat exhaustion and aborted his mission.

“Oh, Lord, it burst my bubble for sure,” said Mr. Sojourner, who did a do-over in October and completed the leg of the trip he missed. “It was a big letdown.”

But he is philosophical. “We’re issuing a challenge to old people,” Mr. Sojourner said. “They may think we’re crazy. Both of us have full white beards. You see these two old bearded folks and you wonder, ‘What in the world are they doing on that river?’”

“Whether I set a record or not — it doesn’t matter,” he added. “It’s more for my grandkids: ‘Look at what Paw-Paw did.’”

Release 2015 and Recharge Your Vision of What Can Be for 2016 
with Career Coach Daisy Swan, and Tarot/Astrological Reader Mary Griffith

January 23, 2016, 1-5pm
Cost $199 (includes 30 mins. Tarot Card reading)

During this afternoon, you’ll have TIME to choose what learning from last year you want to keep and put into action in 2016, to get insight from a professional astrology/tarot reading, to create a vision board based on a vision developed for what you want to see come to life in 2016, and beyond, to do exercises lead by an experienced career coach to help clarify next career moves based on your strengths and interests, to learn mindful awareness meditation, to support clarity and calm throughout the coming year.

This event will be held at a lovely private residence in South Bay.
Location details shared after registration.

[REGISTER HERE]