Bali: Perspective and Getting Back on Track.
Current Location: Sitting in the middle of a rice field. Ubud, Bali
How did I find myself here? I think half aloud while I’m sitting off a path listening to the running water in the aqueducts that line the rice patties. Simple, I was overwhelmed with planning, people and the amount of work I had so I thought, BALI. And to my enjoyment it was just what I needed.
Lets back up for some perspective on why a girl traveling the world needed an escape.
Imagine traveling for 11 months with your family, but that family is about 50–70 people strong at any point. You love them, but sometimes, distance and perspective is good! Additionally, during these 11 months there is practically no down time. This is usually great because your days are filled with adventure, culture, and learning; while also working… FULL TIME. This can wear a girl, or boy, down in 4 months let alone 11. So this is where I found myself in month 11 of my journey with Remote Year.
This isn’t the only reason I am here though, I also came for some rest and productivity. These two things seem counterintuitive but in some conditions they are exactly perfect for each other.
One of the things that tends to happen for many people in startups or those working as a digital nomad is that you can easily forget to take a step back and breath. When you are always surrounded with a tasks, goals and yes FOMO, there can feel like there just is not enough time in the world to get things done and sleep or alone time become a dream.
Why is this a problem:
1) Stressed and Overwhelmed: Lose track of what is important, quality of work is negatively affected and productivity is lost.
2) Burnout is real! Lost perspective on why you love what you are doing and eventually lack of commitment to the work.
3) Loss of Creativity: This is huge if you are in a creative field but equally as bad if you are an entrepreneur since you rely on finding creative solutions for problems.
So did my escape work?
BALI. Day Two and I’m in Love. Now, this isn’t love with a person, I’m much too rational for that to happen in 2 days…. No, this is love with basically everything around me. It turns out that the day I arrived in Ubud two friends I hadn’t seen in months also arrived, my accommodations have the most comfortable bed I’v had all year, AC!, Strong wifi, Vegan food everywhere, oh an not to mention, massages for days. Oh Wait, notice I talked about food, its probably the best healthy food I have had since living in LA and to be honest It could even be better!
I spend some time working, take a full weekend to explore, write, and destress. I try to detach from making commitments, I don’t plan any activities for the week and I finally go into vacation mode.
Its been a week and I jumped back into work feeling more interested in finding solutions, being ok with doing nothing when I can, and now I’m excited to get back to work! All of the tasks that I let clutter my day “the whirlwind” seem less important and I even spent some time prioritizing The 4 key tasks I need to focus on each week.
I’m not writing this to make people feel like they need to go to Bali to get back on track, I actually don’t think the destination is important. If the only thing you can afford is to take a 3 day staycation, that is ok.
The takeaway for me was, when you start to feel dragged down or lost in everything you “think” you need to be doing, that is when you need to step back and find something for yourself. Take a break, its ok, everything will be there when you get back and you will be in a much better position to succeed.
