Hi Friends,

Rachel and I both lived in the desert in another life. We were on the news in Las Vegas (same station, different times) and spent years surrounded by red rocks and endless sky. But this part of the California desert is a different sort of majestic. Maybe it's the contrast to Eastern Pennsylvania, where I live now. Maybe it's the 1960s architecture that makes this corner of Palm Springs look like a movie set. Or maybe it's because we were lying in a pool, chatting with our closest friends, while we took in the view.

Three days in Palm Springs. It was the shortest of breaks, but so beneficial. Me, Rachel, Alberti and Melissa. We'd been planning this for over a year, and finally the stars aligned (Alberti really being our star) and we got to spend a long weekend at Alberti's home.

Not only was it a blast, but there are real health benefits. And no, I'm not just saying that to justify the plane ticket.

We all know a beautiful view feels good. But researchers at UC Berkeley wanted to know if that feeling actually does anything for your body. In a 2023 study, they subjects keep a daily diary that tracked their moments of awe (that goosebump feeling you get when you're in the presence of something bigger than you), along with their stress levels and physical symptoms like aches and pains. The finding: the more awe people felt on a given day, the less stress they felt, the fewer physical symptoms they reported, and the better their overall well-being.

That's this view on our trip in a nutshell. You can't look up without getting a dose. A glistening blue pool. Huge mountains and a sunset that stops conversation mid-sentence. Awe, it turns out, is less a luxury and more a prescription.

Then there's the getaway itself. So many of us treat time off like something we have to earn, or something we'll get to "when things calm down." (Spoiler: they never calm down.) But a long-running heart study tracked 749 women in Massachusetts for two decades. Women who took a vacation less than once every six years were nearly eight times more likely to develop heart problems than women who got away twice a year. The research shows a link, not proof that skipping vacation causes heart trouble, but it's a striking gap.

Eight times. That's not a rounding error. That's a reason to book the trip.

And heres the thing, you dont actually have to do much when you’re on the trip!

We talked. We floated. We ate and we laughed until our faces hurt. We looked at the mountains. Nobody needed a spa package or a packed itinerary to feel restored. We needed each other and a change of scenery.

Put it on the calendar, even if it takes a year to plan. And if one of your friends happens to have a house with a pool, even better.

Read the awe study here
Read more on vacations and your health here

 xoxo

Kerstin

Wednesday September 23rd 1:30 pm est Habit Reset Circle Live Coaching

Wednesday September 23rd 9pm est with Asutra

Wednesday September 30th 1:30 pm est Habit Reset Circle Live Coaching

Friday October 2nd 10am est Join our Rich Thinking Conference Live Event in Philadelphia.

Wednesday October 7th 12pm est Join our monthly prayer group

One last quick request - Please add these email addresses to your safe list so my newsletters don’t end up in spam: elink230.mail.kerstin-lindquist.com, [email protected] Thank you so much! xoxo Kerstin