Vacation Shutdown and Restart
On this hump day, I am dreaming of Friday at 5 pm, actually who I am kidding, Friday at 9 pm and shutting down for a week-long beach vacation. To give you a clear picture of my beach vacation keep in mind this is with my partner, my 4-year-old–ocean obsessed–daughter, and my 2-year-old–on the go–son. So while I have a stack of books to read and fantasies of wine on the beach, it will more likely involve 50 trips a day to fill the bucket with water and countless meltdowns due to the lack of naps and a regular schedule. And yes I know this is the reality of vacationing with young kids, I am still counting the days and hours until it is here.
That said, shutting down my computer for a week is hard. I feed off of staying busy, I control the chaos of life by checking things off of my to-do list. Relaxing is both exciting and stressful for me. While I look forward to time with my partner and my kids, I also have anxiety about not having anything to do. Or having so much to do and not having my computer with me to do any of it. The past few vacations I’ve had a reason to not totally shut down, three years ago I was completing the capstone course for my MBA degree, last year I was one week away from the semester starting and I needed to finish my syllabi. But this year I have a forced shutdown. The keyboard on my laptop needs to be replaced so I’m using it as an excuse to leave my computer behind. How will I do? What if I get an email and a client just needs that one small thing changed? Or what if my son is napping and I have a few free hours to myself? Can I force myself to relax and come back to a fresh restart?
