My frequent flyer miles have grown a bit over the past few weeks; well, not really, since I was traveling via government air.  Regardless, my travels have taken me from Japan and Korea, to Hawaii, California and then back to the East Coast.  Needless to say there have been some very drastic time changes, to include crossing the international date line twice over the course of this trip.  To further complicate my circadian rhythm, we stayed at each location for no more than three days at a time, hardly enough time to begin adjusting to the new time zone.

While the trip afforded me an opportunity to not only see some interesting places, catch up with old friends, make some new ones and conduct the work I needed to accomplish, it also provided me a great lesson in what does and does not work when it comes to long trips.  What I found does not work is letting go of the things you are used to doing – the things that bring you value.

Most mornings, all I wanted to do was hit the snooze button, or rather, throw my phone alarm across the room.  A couple of times I gave in, and didn’t really feel all that good as a result.  When I neglected to maintain my habits of reading and contemplation time followed by working out in the morning, my entire day would start off on the wrong foot.  The time I thought I would have later in the day never came, and the social obligations I wasn’t planning on in the evening came as certainly as an afternoon thunderstorm in Florida.  Instead, I found that I had to stick to what I knew was important to me: my first things, first.

I found that no matter what time my body thought it was, I needed to get up, have a cup of coffee and begin my day with quiet contemplation.  I then needed to check the news, and get a workout in.  Finally, I would end the day by planning out what I wanted to accomplish the next day and fall asleep with a good novel –  That Distant Land, by Wendell Berry.

By keeping my first things first, I was able to rest – no matter what the time zone said and I was able to bring my best to the day, regardless of how much sleep I actually got.  I am thankful that the trip was only a few weeks long.  But I am also thankful for the reminder.  Taking care of ourselves and keeping our first things first is not a selfish endeavor, but necessary in the long run to adequately care for the needs of those around us and accomplish the job ahead of us.