So I recently took a vacation. I took a full week “off” of work and headed with the boyfriend down to Biloxi. See he had had to go down for a yearly training event. I got to tag along and take advantage of the sunshine and cool waters of the hotel pool. I shamelessly just sat there enjoying no responsibility in the world while he sat in the training classroom during the daytime hours.
See this was a huge deal for me because I’ve been in newspapers for over a decade. In those 10 years, I’ve never taken a real vacation from the job. Newspaper conventions are in the summer months and most of us news folks use the summer convention as an excuse to get away from the office and call it a vacation. But the truth is, it’s not. See we’re still “on” during those conventions. There are classes, training, round table discussion events and learning experiences. There is not really a lot of time for the vacationing fun or relaxation.
So when I got to Biloxi I felt weird. There were several times I told the boyfriend, “Something feels off. I feel like I’m forgetting something.”
In fact, that first day I felt so anxious about the fact that I wasn’t working on something for the paper I thought I was going to have full-blown anxiety attack.
Finally, I settled into the moment. I gathered my sunshades and floppy hat, and I made a beeline for the rooftop pool.
Oh my. Be still my soul.
Sure the setting and ambience was wonderful, but there was something more profound in the works. For the first time in over a decade, I wasn’t thinking about newspapers.
Now don’t get me wrong. I love my job. I have great passion for my job. I thrive on working under the pressure of deadlines. I love that I get a front row seat to all the wonderful events in our community. I adore walking around looking through the lens of my camera and capturing moments of smiles on people’s faces. I relish the challenge of digging into information to uncover the truth and write stories to inform the public of happenings around our county.
But…
I had no idea how much of a toll it had taken on my soul. The constant grind. The never ending list of things to do. Even though I loved it, it had become a heavy burden to carry.
So I took a break. For a whole week, I didn’t think about deadlines, stories, events, articles, photos or pages. I simply sat and enjoyed conversations with friends. I had quality time with the boyfriend. I ate delicious food. And I laughed more carefree than I had in years.
When I came back to work Monday, it was with a renewed spirit. The same old deadlines existed, but they weren’t so hard to look at any more.
How many of us get so caught up in the daily existence of our lives that we forget to let the burdens go from time to time? Our jobs and careers become our lives. Sure, we may have other aspects of our lives occurring, but we forget to stop and smell the roses.
I for one, won’t be making that mistake again. Even if I take an entire Saturday every now and then, I’m going to sit and do nothing. Life is too short to get so caught up that we forget why we’re living in the first place.
