Vacationing in the 21st Century
or so we think!
Summer!
This magical period of the year when we used to have vacations. I say “used to” as the last time I had a real vacation was in 2011, the year I finished university.
Since then, I have been having vacations with my laptop. First, I was roaming the globe representing IAAS from my position as President. Then, I was going to training events & courses, where I used to take a few days before and after to explore the city — “my vacations” as I called them.
Later, when I started freelancing, my vacations have been limited to single holidays eg. Christmas, NYE, Jan 1st, and a few others.
I’ve been running on an invisible hamster wheel, trying to be productive without realizing it.
This summer (July 2022), it’s been the first time in 5 years that I managed to say “STOP”, place boundaries and while at an event I was coordinating/organizing, I took time for myself; to swim, to read, to listen to music; to talk with people, to enjoy deep conversations, to connect without my laptop!
10 days without my laptop! Impossible, right?
Okay, yes, I had my phone with me however I wasn’t able to issue invoices, download files and format them, and I forbade myself to read clients’ emails. Talk about paradise!
And we arrive today… 3 days after the end of my vacation. These past 3 days, I haven’t been able to focus and work. My body wants to keep going on, vacationing, resting, looking at the ceiling, basically not working!
While I write this article, I am listening to “Lost Without You” by Freya Ridings and I imagine myself in a garden, sitting and enjoying a fresh beverage without any care in the world. My whole being desires more time off, more rest, and less work…
What’s holding me back?
Why can’t I say yes? Yes, let’s have more vacations, let’s rest until we feel fully rested!
I feel like someone conditioned us to resist rest, to feel guilty when we are laying down, to avoid taking vacations cause “we don’t need them”.
I feel that someone is watching from a corner laughing their ass off however I don’t care anymore. Enough is enough!
I have arrived at this point where my life and my rest belong to me. When I became a freelancer, I did it so I can have my schedule and not work more continuously…
The plan is to start resting more, when I feel like it, and for how long I feel like resting!
Does this feel like a rest revolution? It should!
