Working on Vacation
August 5th, 2008 | Published in Good Life, Work |
I’m at the beach this week in Rehoboth, DE but I didn’t go to the actual beach today; I stayed in and worked all day. There was a time when I would have loathed the idea of not having a vacation completely devoid of any work time (there was also a time when thinking of work made me nauseous, no matter where I was) but now I gladly accept the tradeoff.
I’m taking four weeks of vacation this summer, two at the beach, one for the Chicago Improv Festival, and one for an improv intensive with Keith Johnstone at the end of August. In my old life, where I reported to offices, I was given at the most 3 weeks of vacation per year; a paltry sum.
One or two days spent on work while at the beach is not so bad; besides, everything’s better at the beach–even work. A year ago I probably would’ve struggled to adopt this attitude. It takes a bit of zen to enjoy the vacation today if work calls tomorrow.
I still only have a little bit of zen, but I’ve come a long way.