Living Lucky® Podcast with Jason and Jana Banana

Life is full of Twists and Turns... Especially when Jana Travels Alone

• Jana and Jason Shelfer • Season 5 • Episode 18

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Ever found yourself in a foreign country, grappling with unexpected challenges? Join us as we venture into the heart of Costa Rica, a trip that was far from a tropical paradise. From struggling with a broken air conditioning to currency exchange to feeling deathly ill and bedridden in a foreign land, we discovered that even the most frustrating obstacles can teach us a thing or two about gratitude.  As we wrap up Jana's Costa Rican adventure, we'll share a newfound appreciation for functioning amenities and how her journey made us realize that absence indeed makes the heart grow fonder.

Ever thought about how gratitude can be a powerful tool in overcoming adversity? Tune in as we explore how focusing on the positives turned daunting situations into uplifting learning experiences during Jana's trip. We discuss how the act of intentionally focusing on gratitude made her realize the importance of looking for what's going right in our lives amidst all the chaos and challenges because it makes us open and available for more to be grateful for. To top it off, we reveal the exciting news of our acceptance into Joe Dispenza's sought-after Marco Island Florida Advanced retreat. So sit back and prepare for an episode filled with reflections, revelations and a whole lot of gratitude. It's time to turn those challenges around and find the silver lining in every situation!

And stay tuned, because on the way home, the airline didn't have Jana's wheelchair and she was stuck at the gate. Oh no!  Lord, help me find the gratitude.

Jana Shelfer
Jana Banana
Spirit Arlines
Wheelchair 
#LivingLucky #Gratitude #CostaRica #SoloTravel #SelfDiscovery #FacingFear #DoItScared #Believe #Possibilities #YouCanDoIt #TurnItAround #DoItForYou #FindYourself #JanaShelfer #JasonShelfer #JanaBanana #SpiritAirlines

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Believe in yourself
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*Previously Recorded

Speaker 1:

Are you ready to create a life you crave? Let's spin that doom loop of negativity into an upward success cycle and start living lucky. Good morning, I'm Jailah, I'm Jason and we are living lucky. I'm back.

Speaker 2:

Welcome home baby.

Speaker 3:

I just got back from Costa Rica. I've been gone for 14 days.

Speaker 2:

I am so glad you are back and it's so good to see your face. Did you miss me? Did I ever? I'll tell you what, when they talk about, absence makes the heart grow fonder.

Speaker 3:

Is your heart just a little bit fonder.

Speaker 2:

Is it ever? I'll tell you what. There's one thing that can tell you is there's an invisible workload that you aren't really aware of until someone is gone.

Speaker 3:

Oh, I'm aware of it. I'm aware of it. Did it work both ways? Of course it did.

Speaker 2:

Of course I was a nervous wreck because I didn't realize how messy this house can get when you're not around.

Speaker 3:

Really, oh my goodness, I noticed a few fur balls on the floor.

Speaker 2:

Well, I tried to stay on top of it the whole time and I did the best I could, but without you here, things really do get a little out of control, really. Yeah, it does.

Speaker 3:

Tell me, don't? We all want to know more? Tell me more.

Speaker 2:

Well, I think that I do a really good job of staying on top of things, but sometimes there's those little times where I don't. That's the best I can explain it. Okay, I get caught up in the doing of the things that I do.

Speaker 3:

I know. I came home and I ordered a birth certificate while I was gone Now I was very, very, for some reason, have not been able to find my birth certificate for years, and it's been driving me crazy ever since I changed my name after we got married. So that's been what 17 years I've been able to find my birth certificate and I've been wanting to find it. I don't know why it's been so important to me lately to know what time of day I was born. So I went to no way to celebrate that birthday. While I was in Costa Rica, I went to a lot of work to get on the Kansas website. Do some phone calls.

Speaker 2:

Birth statistics website.

Speaker 3:

And call the State Department, order a certified birth certificate, have it air mailed overnighted to our house here. And I said, jason, this is very important that it comes. And when I got here I found it-.

Speaker 2:

Right by the front door, where you see it.

Speaker 3:

When you came in by the front I'm like, what is this by the front door?

Speaker 2:

That was intentional.

Speaker 3:

It was.

Speaker 2:

Because if I file it then it's going to end up where my birth certificate is.

Speaker 3:

It felt like someone had just gotten the mail, came in and just dropped it on the credenza.

Speaker 2:

I put it right where you would see it when you came in, so you could put it where you would know where it would be. Because otherwise it's going to be where my birth certificate is, which I don't know where that is.

Speaker 3:

Now we're going to have to go through the process for you. At any rate, I had a really great trip. Thanks for asking.

Speaker 2:

Well, we were going to get to that, but I was in so much appreciation for everything that you do every day. I just wanted to say I'm so glad that you're home. Thank you. Welcome back, tell me about your trip, because you look amazing. Thank you, I missed your face.

Speaker 3:

I wanted to say likewise, because while I was away, I got very, very sick the first three days. Now I believe that my survival mechanism, my lizard brain, was on high alert. So for the first day when I'm traveling, I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm going into the unknown. I haven't done this all by myself. I don't know if I've ever gone overseas all by myself. I remember traveling all by myself overseas a couple of times, but I was always meeting other people once I got over there. So this is the first time I've gone on a solo vacation all by myself overseas. That was like my Camino.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and when I got on the plane, the first thing I thought when I got on the plane, when the plane was taking off, was what am I doing?

Speaker 3:

I thought that so many times. I thought that so many times, and so I think my lizard brain was on high alert, because there were several times where I thought this is a very dangerous situation. I am literally getting into a stranger's car. I don't speak the language. They know exactly how much money I have because they helped me get it. They were the ones that did the interpreting for me when we went to the exchange department. So I'm like this is a really bad situation for me. That is so much worse. I don't walk. My wheelchair is literally in the trunk. They literally have the upper hand in so many areas on me.

Speaker 2:

They just take you wherever they want to go.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, they can just push me out the door and I'm done, for you know what I'm saying. So I feel like I was on high alert. I had no idea where I was going and once I did get to my apartment, the air conditioner was broken, oh. And so I thought oh my gosh, how am I going to get this fixed? And next thing, you know, I had this migraine headache. I was vomiting. I found out the toilet in this apartment that I was staying. You couldn't put toilet paper down the toilet.

Speaker 2:

A lot of areas like that. You can't flush anything. I know Any paper down the toilet.

Speaker 3:

I know, but that was never mentioned in the amenities. I mean, they were like yeah, we've got a music room and we've got an art room and we have a workspace where everyone can go and do their work together and we have a pool, and we have a pool where there's a pool table and they had a gym. They had all these amenities. Nobody mentioned that you can't flush the toilet paper.

Speaker 3:

I love it, I didn't, and so anyway, there's no air conditioner, I can't flush the toilet paper, I'm on high alert and it's getting dark and I'm thinking I need to go find a grocery store.

Speaker 2:

I think this is going to be a long two weeks or some kind of food, some kind of food.

Speaker 3:

I'm starting to get a headache and I'm trying to get out my computer and I can't get on the Wi-Fi, and so I'm like, ok, what is around here where I can actually go find something to eat?

Speaker 2:

I almost feel the doom loop starting.

Speaker 3:

You feel it right, I'm getting those, I'm getting that uneasy feeling. And my feet are all swollen from the flight. I barely could get my luggage up to the room. I had to ask someone to help me and then I didn't know how much to tip him Once I got up there, just getting the lock box open on the door Like there were so many little things.

Speaker 2:

Your apartment was on the 23rd floor.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, on the 23rd floor, so many little things. So here I am, I need water and I need food and I'm starting to get this really, really bad headache to where I started to get nauseous and I started to vomit and then it just started going down. I did force myself to go out and I went across the street and I got four bottles of water. So I found a Starbucks and I bought four bottles of water.

Speaker 2:

This section sponsored by Starbucks.

Speaker 3:

Thank you. And then I came back and I went to bed in my hot, non-acid apartment and I was sick for the next three days. And when I say sick, I could not sit up, I could not see light. I had the worst headache. I was vomiting. I did find a pot to vomit in.

Speaker 2:

A pot like a pan, A pot pan.

Speaker 3:

A pot pan, and this is where I found I missed you the most, because I was like I just want someone to take care of me, I just want someone to do those little things.

Speaker 2:

I need to be loved.

Speaker 3:

I need someone to empty my vomit. I love it, I would have. Oh, and you know the pillows. You're getting used to a new bed, the pillows.

Speaker 2:

I would have done it with love.

Speaker 3:

I ran out of bottled water very, very quickly. So then it was the question do I?

Speaker 2:

Can I drink the tap water here?

Speaker 3:

Right, can I drink the tap water?

Speaker 2:

Chances.

Speaker 3:

And so I did. I had to just chance it because I was so dehydrated. And then after that third day, oh, I got a really bad cold sore. That was a, I mean, it just felt like my body was breaking down.

Speaker 2:

So there's one of those things where, when you get in that hyper state of dis-ease in your body, yes, you create disease in your body.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, you know, we hold our. The vomiting the cold sore.

Speaker 2:

Yes, the issues are in your tissues.

Speaker 3:

The issues are in your tissues and it feels to me like it almost triggered some sort of. It's almost like your adrenal glands go into high alert and they release chemicals in your brain. In it it memorizes or it brings up emotions that have been memorized in your cells in your body Huge, and it put me into a doom loop like you would not believe.

Speaker 3:

It put me into this state of life isn't working out for me. Here I went on this, here I'm on this dream vacation all by myself. I'm supposed to be liberating and enjoying freedom and instead I'm sick. My body is doing me a disservice.

Speaker 2:

You were on a mission of self-discovery and, because of all the heightened fear and things that are happening, you let yourself be destroyed.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, and I felt mad and angry about it and because of that it started making me see the negative in things.

Speaker 2:

And then the turn.

Speaker 3:

And then on the third day I was like you know what I need to get the AC fixed. So I started trying to just slowly work toward that challenge. What?

Speaker 2:

makes this better.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, if I had AC, that would make this better. And there was water all over the floor because the AC had been dripping water, because I had turned it up as high as I could and so trying to translate and find an AC repair person to come out, like just working on that challenge and getting someone in the apartment, and sure enough these two guys came. They were four hours late getting there because time over in Costa Rica is not a thing, it's very fluid in Central America.

Speaker 3:

Time is a fluid thing, and here in America we value our time. We'll be there. I want to know what time you're going to be here, and if you give me a window, that's okay, but if you say you're going to be there at this time, then so I didn't have lunch, I didn't eat all day, what's?

Speaker 1:

another day when it's getting three.

Speaker 3:

Exactly.

Speaker 2:

But they don't know it's been three days for you.

Speaker 3:

However, once they came and they were the nicest two guys and the one guy spoke English- there's another blessing right on top of that. And all of a sudden I started counting my blessings oh awesome. And they actually they opened up the AC. It was frozen over, completely iced, and so they spent about four hours in the apartment de-icing my AC, and when they left I had air conditioner and it felt like a breath of fresh cold air.

Speaker 3:

Yes, and all of a sudden I started feeling better and it almost lifted this veil of doom and life started getting better. And on that fifth day then I'm like you know what? I'm gonna wake up and I'm gonna make the bed and I'm going to at least get outside and I'm gonna go find something to eat, I'm gonna go find a little cafe and I'm gonna make a friend. And so each day I just kept getting a little bit better, to the point where I was making treks all over the city, I was going to get massages and I was taking ubers and I was going to get art and going to galleries and I did so many things. I'm so proud of myself.

Speaker 2:

That is fantastic, so it turned into an amazing trip. You reclaim, you did everything you wanted to do.

Speaker 3:

It's just, it's so crazy how it started out with such doom and gloom and I don't know if I brought that energy in. I mean, like we just we talked about I'm sure that just being on Hyler and it's almost like an autonomic response.

Speaker 2:

But even having that created made the trip, I think, even that much better.

Speaker 3:

Because they turned it around?

Speaker 2:

Yes, because you I turned it around, because recognizing it in the trip and having the turn and knowing that you want. What the purpose of the trip was was the rediscovery, the claiming of self, the reowning of the dependence and everything that you are of in yourself was saying I can turn anything into whatever I want it to be. Life isn't always what we plan it to be.

Speaker 3:

It's what we make it.

Speaker 2:

It's what we make it and that literally was what was on the menu for that trip.

Speaker 3:

And that's what I got. It's crazy Sometimes we have intentions, whether we know it or not, and that's what we get.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and so often like you could have planned that trip it started three days in you're like screw this, I'm out, I'm going to plan to get out.

Speaker 3:

I almost came home. I almost came home.

Speaker 2:

And turn it around and say or just you live in that whole thing for the 10 days or 14 days and say I'm just gonna be gloomy the whole time, my trip is ruined, I'm out.

Speaker 3:

One last thing before we go. I found the people to be so kind and I found I was breaking out in spontaneous tears toward the last four or five days because Gratitude I was in such a state of gratitude. People were just. They were buying my lunch for me, people were coming over and giving me random boxes of chocolate I had. I made friends every single day. I was getting photos with people. I just felt like people were going above and beyond to be nice to me.

Speaker 2:

So that's something that I found in my Camino.

Speaker 3:

In fact I'm getting tears Like I'm really. I'm just having a moment right now thinking about it. Everybody was so nice to me.

Speaker 2:

And I think there's that everywhere. There's that in our neighborhoods, here at home, but we're too why do?

Speaker 3:

we have to go all the way across the world to find it.

Speaker 2:

Sometimes Well, we're so busy and we're so programmed to be looking for what's going wrong, and that's why I think it's so imperative that we start our day intentionally focused on gratitude and we end our day so intentionally focused on gratitude, and that's why I love that we're doing living lucky and we are living lucky.

Speaker 3:

Look for what's going right. Look for what's going right and train your brain to look for what's going right. And the only reason that this is my message is because I struggle with this. I struggle with this every single day. I struggle with it and I am not the expert. I am on this journey and I am sharing all of the tips and tricks that I've learned along the way, and I just I had a wonderful trip. I not only had a wonderful trip, but in those three days when I was so sick and I couldn't do anything, I actually started watching Joe Dispenza and, believe it or not, this is how the universe works. I started watching his program, his online course, and within hours of me watching his course, I got an email saying a spot had opened up at his Marco Island Florida retreat. So I have now been accepted to go to his retreat.

Speaker 2:

And you've been trying to get in for a while and I have been trying to get in first months Years. It's been like at least two years.

Speaker 3:

Well, for six months, I've been trying to get into this specific retreat, and so it's. You put yourself in a state of gratitude. We communicate with the universe with our thoughts and our feelings, and when we raise our vibration with gratitude, it feels like the universe is listening it starts working with us.

Speaker 3:

I'm just getting chills. We've got to go, because I do want to tell you on my way back I had this wonderful trip. I'm in this great state, everything's going well, and I am in the home stretch and all of a sudden pulling into the driveway almost the plane lands and the airlines don't have my wheelchair, so Jason is out. You know how husbands are driving around the airport saying have you landed yet have you landed?

Speaker 1:

yet, because you can't park in front of the airport. Do you have?

Speaker 3:

your luggage. Yet I'm like, I'm on the plane and I don't have a wheelchair, so we'll tell you about that one tomorrow. Thanks for listening. Guys, have a wonderful day and start living lucky. It's really the only way to live.

Speaker 1:

Bye-bye. If the idea of living lucky appeals to you, visit us at startlivingluckycom.