So I don’t do Groupon. I like to go buy things (in-person) when I want them. And I hate spending money to save money. I don’t know, it seems counterproductive to me. I don’t want to be tempted into buying something cheaper when I never would have bought it in the first place.
Several weeks ago Aych told me about a race she and her colleagues found on Groupon. It’s an evening race with glow-in-the-dark accessories. It also falls right after our 90 Day Challenge comes to an end. I wasn’t going to let her sign-up without me, and it seemed like a great way to celebrate what’s sure to be remarkable success with our 90 Day.
I registered on Groupon, bought my race registration, and that was that. Until the next morning when much to my chagrin I realized I was now going to receive Groupon emails each day. Son of a! I already receive 473 emails per day from shopping sights (that I never actually look at). All I need is yet another one, offering me laser hair removal for $59 dollars instead of $836. I mean…come on.
I had every intention of unsubscribing…but each morning I got busy and would forget. About a week ago, right when we were signing up for our 90 Day Challenge, the headlining deal on Groupon was Hypnosis for Weight Loss for Two for $29(!!!!!). I was intrigued. I asked Aych if she was interested and she was. Then I told Eh about it and she and her sister had already purchased the same thing. I quickly logged in and purchased a session. The four of us signed-up to attend the three hour session on an upcoming Saturday afternoon.
After committing to hypnosis, we decided it would only make sense to meet for a yummy lunch beforehand. Obviously.
Now would be a good time for me to admit that I am not at all adventurous. At. All. Not with food, not with activities, not with clothes, not with almost anything. I’m like the opposite of adventurous. So the fact that I had even considered this hypnosis thing at all was a miracle. But then, Aych suggested we go to a Mongolian restaurant.
Ummm…
In my mind I was saying “noooooo!!!!” but I decided what the hell? It was already going to be an out of the ordinary kind of day so why not get really crazy. Because yes, my friend, Mongolian food in a fourth-ring suburb is my idea of really crazy.
Ahem.
Yesterday was the day. We woke up early and the little girls and I had a lot to get done. We had to get more Girl Scout Cookies and then we had to deliver them all over town. We drove all over creation. By the time we got home I was really sleepy. And irritable. The last thing I felt like doing was eating Mongolian food and going to be hypnotized. Aych arrived to pick me up, I raised my fist at the sky and wondered whose idea this was in the first place, and I begrudgingly got my coat and pranced out the door.
Aych and I felt pretty proud of ourselves as we pulled up to the restaurant. Look at US. We are being SO adventurous. Or something like that. Surprisingly, I was not killed by the food, and it was actually pretty good. We spent lunch wondering what in the world we were in for. The session was being held in a local hotel. Would they have us lay down? Would it be in a large hotel ballroom? How many people would be there?
We paid our bill and made our way to the hotel. When we arrived we found a room with chairs lined up and facing a podium at the front. I decided if we were doing this, we should really do it, and I suggested we sit in the front row. Our hypnotist quickly came to the front of the room and we were off.
In three hours we were hypnotized four times. Turns out? Hypnosis is very similar to meditation. Each time we were asked to think of a place where we felt comfortable and happy. We listened (kind of? I swear I was sleeping for much of it?) to the man as he led us through different thought exercises. Whether it was imagining what we want to be, or thinking of a particular food with which we have trouble (I’m looking at you Girl Scout Cookies), or imagining that we are a magnet for the things we really want.
You know those moments when you realize, with mighty force, that you are in fact very happy with who you are, where you are, and your life as it is today? The first things I thought of when picturing my “happy place” were my husband and the restaurant in Vegas where he proposed. Even though, at that moment nearly five years ago, I was anything but content. I went through the three hours feeling lucky, fulfilled, happy, grateful, and so incredibly pleased with the life I’ve created.
We left the hotel not sure if anything we’d heard would altar our lives, or our diets, but we all felt like it’d been worth it. I mean, at its most basic, when do you EVER get three hours to meditate? Like…never.
But I left feeling like I’d been given a rare glimpse of just how lucky I am. And how unhappy I’m not. I’ve been so busy lately, and I’ve meditated so little, that I haven’t taken the time to really slow down and look around me. Being able to do that, for three hours, is probably the loveliest thing I’ve been able to do in a very long time.
As much as I hate to say it…I might just allow those stupid Groupon emails to keep coming…who knows what we might find next?!
TODAY: What if, every once and awhile, I grab an adventure when I see it?
MAMACADABRA 