Palm trees were gently swaying. There was brilliant sunshine glistening off of the water. Folks were laughing, frolicking, and cavorting. And me? I was responding to a series of emails despite the automated away message that clearly explained I was far from any device with an apple on it. So what happened? How’d I manage to vacate my vacation so easily?
I guess the answer is pretty simple. I work hard, got a lot going on, and to just “stop” everything while the rest of the team/company is working at full speed, just makes it that much harder to catch up when I get back. The thought of sorting through a week’s worth of stuff on top of everything piling up each day — yikes!!!
That’s not to say that progress is impossible without my direct participation, but to watch decisions get made in your absence (that you know you’d have been part of if you were there) is just plain excruciating.
I work hard at making work fun. The dog comes to work with me, there’s a bottle of tequila within arm’s reach at all times, and I have no compunctions about a 10 minute frisbee break during a 9 hour minimum work day. It ain’t a bad deal. In a rather twisted way, I make my work into my fun (too). Going to shows, cocktail receptions, and wearing flip flops to the office — these’re all valid and enticing pieces of the job description.
Oh yeah, in case anyone at the office is reading this, I work with a stellar group of people who are consummate professionals, and dazzling human beings. Phew. OK. Ahem … now … where was I? Oh yeah.
Back in 2006, I spent nearly a month in Thailand. Halfway around the world, in a place that lacked indoor plumbing and occasional electricity, I still managed to keep up with email and clients while simultaneously cursed myself for doing so.
Perhaps the lesson here isn’t so much that I failed at vacation, but rather I succeed at not letting work feel like work. There’s the silver-lining for my overworked, underpaid, and not quite cubicle-dwelling cloud.
