What does going on vacation mean to you? When I was working full time, vacation meant sleeping without the alarm and visiting new and exciting locales (not places, locales, which always sounds a bit more exotic, even if it is just a jaunt to Fort Myers, Florida).
Since I’ve been laid off, time has lost a little bit of meaning for me. I don’t have to set an alarm, but I do. Life is still insanely busy as I polish my resume, work on individual cover letters, apply for jobs, and network. In between all of that, I work on my art, blog, and write. I don’t have a set time that I stop any of this “work” since when I’m in the middle of it, whether it’s completing a painting or writing a short story, it doesn’t feel like work. Time expands and contracts, and sometimes I’m writing well into the evening.
I suppose this is what people mean when they say do what you love, and it won’t feel like work. I have complex thoughts about that way of thinking though. While I enjoy painting and blogging and writing short stories, I’m also not getting paid for any of it. The copyediting that I do get paid for does feel like work, but if the writing is entertaining, it’s less painful than copyediting highly technical text. And, if I were to get paid for my painting and had to deal with client edits and hard deadlines, I’m sure the joy I currently feel doing it would be curtailed quite a bit.
And now I’m on a pre-planned “vacation” where I feel a bit guilty for not spending all my time looking for work. Looking for work is work, and as my husband reminds me, I need time to process what I’ve been through, and I need time to re-energize myself. In a compromise, I don’t set my alarm, and I only look for a few jobs each day. I do spend the time that we aren’t sight-seeing or hanging out with family on writing and art, and that does feel like a lovely and rejuvenating compromise.
What is your ideal vacation? How different is it from your regular work days, and is it something that you could do long term or by the end of it, are you ready to get back to “work”?
What does going on vacation mean to you? When I was working full time, vacation meant sleeping without the alarm and visiting new and exciting locales (not places, locales, which always sounds a bit more exotic, even if it is just a jaunt to Fort Myers, Florida).
Since I’ve been laid off, time has lost a little bit of meaning for me. I don’t have to set an alarm, but I do. Life is still insanely busy as I polish my resume, work on individual cover letters, apply for jobs, and network. In between all of that, I work on my art, blog, and write. I don’t have a set time that I stop any of this “work” since when I’m in the middle of it, whether it’s completing a painting or writing a short story, it doesn’t feel like work. Time expands and contracts, and sometimes I’m writing well into the evening.
I suppose this is what people mean when they say do what you love, and it won’t feel like work. I have complex thoughts about that way of thinking though. While I enjoy painting and blogging and writing short stories, I’m also not getting paid for any of it. The copyediting that I do get paid for does feel like work, but if the writing is entertaining, it’s less painful than copyediting highly technical text. And, if I were to get paid for my painting and had to deal with client edits and hard deadlines, I’m sure the joy I currently feel doing it would be curtailed quite a bit.
And now I’m on a pre-planned “vacation” where I feel a bit guilty for not spending all my time looking for work. Looking for work is work, and as my husband reminds me, I need time to process what I’ve been through, and I need time to re-energize myself. In a compromise, I don’t set my alarm, and I only look for a few jobs each day. I do spend the time that we aren’t sight-seeing or hanging out with family on writing and art, and that does feel like a lovely and rejuvenating compromise.
What is your ideal vacation? How different is it from your regular work days, and is it something that you could do long term or by the end of it, are you ready to get back to “work”?
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