I recently took a three week vacation.  I know, right?  Intervention was required to save me from myself because I have a bit of a problem being a workaholic.  Normally my vacations consist of a long weekend or maybe a 10 day stint where I find myself sleeping for the first 72 hours, then adjusting to the idea of the vacation, and by the time the vacation is over… I’m finally getting the hang of it.

This recent retreat was a staycation (as they call it) and I had around me my loved ones who wholeheartedly supported my “taking it easy.”  Battered and bruised with chronic neck stress and bags under my eyes, I took some time in Boston and then came home for the remainder of my vacation where my family pampered and spoiled me, fed and watered me, and let me nap in the September sunshine.  It was pretty terrific.  By week two, I was beginning unwind.  By week three I noticed a decided change in attitude and physical well being.  My goodness, I hadn’t felt this good since 2006!  I felt clear.

As a graphic designer/writer, my schedule is pretty hectic.  Filled with meetings and deadlines, its a ‘hurry up and get it done’ industry.  I’ve always been a conscientious worker, but lately it seemed the name of the game was to complete a job and move on to the next.  The quality of my process was suffering. I really wasn’t enjoying the work as much as I had 3, 4, or 5 years ago.  Stress built up until I was almost unable to rotate my head to the right…backing out of a parking spot proved most challenging and painful.

At Fast Company, Brett Lovelady, spoke to the Seven Truths in Designing.  He likened designers to plants… yes, designers “need an environment that supports their needs. I believe they need sunlight, nutrients, good weather, conversation, or music, maybe a hug, pruning, cleaning and sometimes transplanting. On top of all of that, they need space to express themselves individually, even while being part of a greater identity.”  OH YES INDEED… what a great analogy.

Hobby?  What’s a hobby?

While sitting at the beach watching the sun make its slow autumn decent into Long Island Sound, I was asked the following question which was a crystallizing moment for me, “If I were to ask you about your hobbies, what would you tell me?”  Hobby?  What’s a hobby?  Well wow… there are lots of things I’d like to do for hobbies. Art and design, design and art…  but I used to have other interests as well but what the hell were they?  Was I becoming 2 dimensional?

A Matter of Mindset, perhaps.

I have always taken care of a lot of people.  I take care of artists, sculptors, kids, parents, pets.  I’m a home owner which is a full time job itself.  What if… just if… the notion of taking care of ourselves wasn’t a sin?  What if this wasn’t a selfish thing?  I have thought a lot about this and it seems sometimes to me that the world repeatedly tells us to slow down while society and work tell us to speed up.  It’s a conflict.  Driving down the road there are stop signs and stop lights every 500 feet.  STOP STOP STOP.  Every night our bodies cause us to slow down, sand fills our eyes and sleep must be had.  STOP STOP STOP.  We fight these warnings as we try to rush the street light or force ourselves to stay awake just a bit more to finish the one last chapter, the one last task.

Looking at my calendar for the next 2 weeks, I find it is as jam packed as it ever was.  But it doesn’t seem quite as deadly to me and perhaps this is a matter of mindset.  Instead of stressing out over the 3 hours driving trip I will be taking to upstate New York next week, sweating about the 25 ‘other’ things I could, should, would be doing during that driving time…why not just enjoy the trip.  Check out the autumn leaves. Do a little gallery hopping.  Enjoy the idea of having to do just ONE thing… drive through the country side.  The other stuff will get done.  This is living in the moment… deliberate and with purpose.

These days, post vacation, find me slowing down.  If I need an extra 3 hours to consider a design… I take it.  Hell, if I need another 2 days to consider a design project I take it.  And guess what? The design never suffers from this.  It gets better.  My clients like this.  I like this.  These days instead of pumping out articles and blog posts for deadline,  I take the time to consider the piece pre-writing.  I ponder it.  I dream on it.  I jot down little notes now and again.  The deadline is still there but the process is far more enjoyable and of a higher quality.  And decisions… do they all need to be made RIGHT NOW?  Nah-uh… they don’t.  I can use my voice to say “I’m not ready to make that decision yet.”  It’s all ok and the end product is always better for it.  Because my mind is clearer and not wrestling with 10 different tasks at once the creativity is at a higher level.  The decision making is at a higher level… it’s deliberate and thoughtful.  Slowing down has made me more effective, more efficient and my neck and shoulders are benefiting from the change.

I don’t know if I will continue to be successful next month, or the month after, in my endeavor to slow down, deliberately embrace the moment and even reacquaint myself with some of those hobbies.  I do know that this is something I think is good.  It’s something I want to continue.  Life gets stressful.  Days hand us unforeseen events and challenges.  BUT…its about baby steps in the right direction.  Maybe it’s two steps forward and tomorrow one step back… but that’s ok cause I’ve got time.

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