G’day champs.
Apologies for the delay on the weekly newsletter; my girl and I took a do-not-disturb weekend away, and I was unable to get the email out on Sunday.
I did, however, have a lovely interaction that really resonated with me.
That moment, the experience and learnings from it, will be the subject of last week’s (late) newsletter—infectious energy, being present and what it means to be good.
Enjoy!
My partner and I decided to take a weekend trip to the Mornington Peninsula.
As if taking the weekend off wasn’t crazy enough, I decided to also request annual leave for Friday to extend the relaxation by an extra day—wild scenes! For a bloke who can count his work-free Saturdays and sick days over two years on one hand, that’s close to a religious event.
The plan was simple: relax and go slow.
Bev’s plan had nine items on it with timestamps.
This is a story about a weekend away, nice food, thermal springs, a very wet Saturday and a plan we abandoned by mid-afternoon. But the real reason I’m writing it has nothing to do with any of that.
The real reason is a shop assistant named Kim, and the thing that she gave us that went beyond the products we bought.
Here’s what happened:
Contrasting plans
My goal (pure relaxation and no expectations) was somewhat in contrast to how Bev usually likes to tackle adventures and road trips.
Bev likes to do all the things, because she is constantly finding inspiration—looking at reviews, watching vlogs or studying viral trends like she’s in training to become a local tour guide.
She will research the local attractions, food spots and sights, then diligently concoct a plan of attack to make sure every one is tried.
I reckon I could blindly put my finger on a map of Australia and she would be able to rattle off the top restaurant, cafe, tourist drawcard and natural attraction in that town without skipping a beat.
Our main attack day, according to her plan, was going to be the Saturday.
The plan looked something like this:
8 am - wake up
915 am - leave for Alba Springs (a popular thermal hot springs spot)
930 am - have a pre-paid brunch at Alba
1030 am - make our way into the springs
1230 pm - head home to get changed
1 pm - make our way to Sorrento and the famous Vanilla Slice Cafe
3 pm - check out some well-known farms (including a lavender farm)
5 pm - head home to get changed
7 pm - make our way to Red Hill Estate (winery) for a fine dining experience
9 pm - go home and get into bed
I know what you’re thinking… not exactly in line with our goal of ‘relax and go slow’.
The trip begins
We made our way down to Rosebud at around 2 pm on Friday.
Arrived and settled into our motel at around 4 pm. It had been a relatively exhausting and fast-paced start to the day, so we snuck a nap in. After the nap, we headed out to grab some good food at a lovely local pizza place (Papis in Rye, amazing) before getting in an early night.
The next day started as planned. We woke up at around 8 am and got ready to head to Alba. We made it there by 930 am, checked in, then got changed into our robes and made our way up for brunch.
Once we changed into our robes and locked our phones away in our lockers, my energy changed, and hers did too.
We both started soaking in the ambience and serenity.
The brunch was basic, but did the job; I had a mimosa as well to really sink into relaxation mode. Once brunch was done, we made our way out into the springs.
The weather had been fairly unkind for a couple of days heading into that morning, and the rain did not let up. We spent our entire time at the springs scurrying between the warm pools, whilst being pelted by cold, hard rain.
In the end, the rain added to the relaxation as we were forced to embrace the elements.
We made our way through the springs, trying every pool.
We hit the steam and sauna rooms as well.
The entire place was simply magical, and we allowed ourselves to relax and go slow. Three hours passed in no time at all. We were fully embracing the zen.
After the springs, we made our way back to accommodation and into warmer clothes.
On the way back, I had a sudden urge, so I shared it with Bev…
“I reckon we should do face masks tonight, like those moisturising sheets.”
We giggled at how fun that could be, but no action was decided.
The trip continues
The morning had been slow, spent doing nothing but giggling, chatting, and being present with one another. It was exactly what we needed, but I felt like we could definitely use more of this pace. I had no idea what the day was going to look like from there, but with the weather doing its thing and zen coursing through my body, I knew my girl’s plan of hitting every spot was not going to be the play.
We got changed, with food on our minds we made our way over to Sorrento.
I had heard a lot about Sorrento, but this was my first time visiting. The town centre was so lovely and well maintained, a true beach town with gorgeous white buildings lining the main street.
We found a nice little bakery called Pie Pantry to sit down and grab some baked goods. I went with beef, cheese and pepper while Bev grabbed a vegan lentil pie.
After that, we continued perusing the shops, checking out the local art and fashion.
The pies had gone down a treat, but now it was time for something sweet, so we cruised on over to the Vanilla Slice Cafe (this one could stay on the itinerary).
This place was apparently well-known for its chocolate croissants…
Jokes, of course; we got the vanilla slice and a coffee.
It was exquisite.
An unplanned detour
By this time it was around 330 pm.
We finished our shared slice, and with no real plan of how the rest of the day was going to look, we casually continued strolling through the town and looking at the shops on our way back to the car.
We were about to walk past a fancy girly store, one that was empty of customers but filled with scents and smells and all the things that I generally have ZERO interest in. I had a hunch that she was interested in checking it out, so I stopped and gestured for us to go back. Bev was intrigued, but due to the store being empty, she was a lil intimidated by being in a small empty store by herself with a single sales assistant.
I could tell that she wanted to go check it out, so I offered to accompany her in to join in some perusing and smelling.
The assistant greeted us on entry—we could feel her energy immediately.
“Hey, welcome to Ikou. Have you been here before?”
We both shook our heads.
“No, first time; we’re just in town for the weekend.”
Then, without hesitation and with supreme confidence, she began explaining the brand and what it represented. It was a great spiel and built a lot of value in the brand.
Cruelty-free
Chemical-free
Vegan-friendly
Balance and renewal
Natural Australian botanicals
These buzzwords are not things I usually consider when buying anything, but the delivery and conviction got me interested, and Bev was immediately captivated.
The assistant (Kim) started showing us around and explaining their philosophy.
“These products help with nervous system reset… these products help with energising in the morning… these treatments help with relaxation, etc.”
We smelled some things and tried some things.
Then she offered to take us through one of their treatments, asking which one we were intrigued by.
I responded:
“Well, I have been working a lot, and my nervous system has been overloaded, so I feel like the nervous system reset/calming stuff is a good place to start.”
Bev agreed.
We had some delightful berry tea as the basin filled with warm water.
Kim then grabbed out the hand scrub and a tub of body calming soufflé. We dipped our hands in the warm water, applied the scrub to our hands and got scrubbing—instant satisfaction!
We washed and dried our hands, then Kim grabbed a tub of the cream and asked us if we were okay with a hand massage.
We nodded in unison.
She grabbed my hand and a dab of the cream and began working the cream through my fingers, palms and forearm with an effortless gentleness. She continued rattling off the products and history of the company without any interruption to the insane hand experience that was taking place. It was incredibly soothing.
Bev then stepped up for her hand massage, and by the time it finished, we were both convinced that something was being purchased; it just had to happen.
Once we finished and were about to decide on where to allocate our funds, I mentioned to Kim the goal of our weekend and how we had been speaking earlier that day about a face mask kinda evening.
“Good news”, she said.
“We are running a little promotion this weekend: spend $99 and you get three of our new facemask range to take home.”
Say less!
The only real decision we needed to make now was how to get to $99 most effectively. In the end, it was no decision at all. The hand scrub and body calming soufflé that she trialled on us smelled and felt delightful; they also conveniently tallied to $109.
It was unanimous.
We purchased our products, scored our face masks, thanked Kim for her time and expertise, then made our way back to the car in a state of pure peace.
Go with the flow
The energy and pace of our evening had changed.
Without even properly discussing it, we both knew that leaning into this feeling was going to be the play.
We found another nice local pizza and pasta joint (Noras in Rye, highly recommended), had a slow and relaxing meal together and made a plan of attack for the evening—body scrub, calming music, face masks, calming body cream and massages.
Just me, my girl, our tiny motel room and a space for us to unwind and connect.
And that’s what we did.
Far from her jam-packed plan for that evening, but closer to what we actually needed, we found the kind of peace that you usually have to search for in an otherwise non-stop world.
We got to sleep sometime before midnight.
The next day brought better weather and an opportunity to go and hit the farms that we had planned to tackle the day before. They were also delightful: lavender scones and lavender ice cream, famous chips and fresh farm vegetables.
In the end, we did most of the things, just in a slightly different order and without the weight of expectation.
My takeaways
We live in an incredibly fast-paced and on-demand world.
Everything needs to be done yesterday, and there is little to no space for peace and presence. Sometimes you have to force it, so we did.
We saw an opening, an invite from the universe to slow down, and we took it.
Our instinct to walk into that store and engage in conversation with a lovely, well-informed and energetic sales assistant was genuine and grounding and inevitably brought us to exactly where we needed to be.
Although Kim was just doing her job, she did it with such class and commitment that we felt a sense of responsibility to go on the journey with her.
We hung on every word and sank into the power of the here and now.
She won our trust through her passion and took us to a place we never intended to, but ultimately were glad to go. In the end, we walked away with more than just hand scrub and body cream; we walked away with a gift.
The gift of pause.
The restorative ritual that she had introduced us to would also become a place for Bev and me to connect and slow down. A place for us to put the world on pause and simply be in each other’s presence.
Life is full of people trying to teach us something.
It’s full of moments that will deepen our connection to the world and the people we love. Every single day, in every one of those moments, we get two choices: accept the lesson or ignore it.
Try to do more of the first one.
Final thoughts
That’s it from me this week, gang. Back to regular programming this Sunday — one email closer to my goal of writing a newsletter every week for the whole year.
Twelve more newsletters for me to get there—craaazzyyyy!
I hope this one gave you a reason to pay closer attention. To trust that little voice when it says “slow down, it’s safe.”
With gratitude,
SAV
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