Purchasing a new book on our way to the departure terminal. The adrenaline rush as you are pushed back into your seat waiting for the plane’s wheels to lift off the ground and glide into the air. The anticipation mid-air before the wheels of the plane kiss the ground of a foreign place. The cab ride that greets your eyes with towering mountains and the most beautiful scenic views on the way to your lakeside accommodation. A feeling so dreamlike, we almost forgot the beauty of travelling.

As we sat down to write this piece on our recent travels, we felt propelled to start with the adventures, food, moments and people we met during our stay. Although we can speak about our helicopter ride atop the glaciers, the alpaca farm experience, the horse riding in the mountains and everything in between — these experiences were not really what inspired this blog. Absurd right? But stick with us, we promise it will be worth your while.

During our usual coffee run on our way to work, we noticed a couple of things we didn’t really pay much attention to prior to our trip. Like the anxiety-fuelled energy to quickly grab a coffee and rush to wherever one needs to be. The corporate buildings. Strangers bypassing an individual who happens to be walking without a sense of ‘time’. But then it dawned on us, computer in front of us, iPhone in one hand and laptop on the other end, how disconnected we are from our self in contrast to this form of ‘connection’ to time, emails, clients and to-do lists. It was this moment of realisation of where we are now and our memories of disconnecting in Queenstown that inspired this blog post.

So here’s 3 things we learned from our recent trip to Queenstown:

You will not stagnate if you choose to slow down
We live in a society that glorifies overworking. A culture that believes long working hours and constant mental and physical exhaustion is a marker of how “successful” you are. But we want to challenge the status quo. Living a slower-paced life is a conscious choice (and a very hard one) to enjoy life without worrying about the endless to do list. It’s about embracing each moment for what it is without the constant rushing and stress that leads to burnout. Truth is, life is already moving at a fast pace and slowing down gives you a sense of control over your time and freedom. Before we decided to go to Queenstown we were really tossing and turning whether it was a good ‘time’ because of the amount of work we had. We made a conscious decision to write up an email to all our clients that we would be out of office for a few days and attend to their non-urgent work and queries when we get back. Do we regret our holiday? Heck no! Did our to do list go anywhere? Again, no. But what we learned is the exhaustion of being busy is real and there’s no sense of completion (ever) — so we chose to stop and to choose stillness. Our take-home message is to enjoy whatever it is you are doing. Own your time. Own your life.

Disconnecting is a form of connecting to your deeper self

Prior to boarding the plane we made a pledge to ourselves that the trip would be spent with minimal time spent on our phones in order to connect with our deeper self and the beauty of the world around us. Breathing in the crisp air of the mountains, meditation by the lake and gliding in the air atop the glaciers have a profound way of revealing things about yourself and showing you how you are connected to something bigger. Choose curiosity, learning and paying attention to the world around you — it will show you who you are in the process.

Scheduling time for yourself is just as important as managing your work commitments

Looking after yourself does not need to be time consuming or expensive. In fact, you don’t even need to book a holiday for “me time”, you just have to prioritise it as you would your work commitments. Our trip really shed light on how rushed our daily lives have become as we heedlessly tick off tasks on our to-do lists, without really noticing the stress it causes to our physical and mental health. The pausing, stillness and mindfulness that we were able to experience during our travels reminded us about the importance of feeling your best in order to do your best. We came back with a recharged sense of energy and were inspired to get back into the gist of things with work. Remember to let go of the stresses of everyday life by scheduling time for yourself. Enjoy a cup of tea. Go for a walk. Sit under a tree and read or just contemplate the world. Whatever it is you choose as a form of self-care, remember to embrace the moment with mindfulness.

So what we hope you take away from this blog is that success does not have to be at the expense of your sense of wellbeing. Making more conscious decisions to slow down and enjoy life will allow you to reap the benefits of the good life you are trying to create for yourself well into your senior years.