Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Peace, Relax and Avoid

There is no greater peace then having a three day weekend and actually not focusing on anything.

We planned on heading out for Memorial Day weekend, so I was proactive and decided to take a PTO day on Friday.  My husband and oldest son had work, and my youngest had school and track practice.  While I anticipated having to get some office work done because I am in the middle of planning our biggest tradeshow of the year, I figured I'd have some downtime to get some laundry done, finish packing and get some errands in.  Thankfully, I wrapped up my to-do list by 9:00 am, and then proceeded to work the ENTIRE day.  I'm not talking until 5:00.  I'm talking working until nearly 5:00, and then after packing my laptop, along with a gigantic bag of work crap in the back of the truck, I pulled out my laptop and continued to work remotely in the truck on our roadtrip.  Thankfully, my battery died and I just didn't care enough to get the charger out.

Given the tradeshow is just outside the three week mark, I figured I would work over the weekend. I tried, sort of.  Saturday morning after picking up groceries, I broke out my laptop and opened my work bag.  After answering a couple of emails and sent queries that needed quick responses, I sat there...and did nothing.  I had a stack of things I could accomplish while waiting for responses.   I realized that I spend way too many hours working and vowed years ago, after often working 60 hour weeks, that I wouldn't do that again.  I immediately put everything away, and barely touched my phone over the weekend.  I tried working on the way home Monday afternoon, and made it for about 30 minutes, thinking I would pick it up Monday night.  Nope, didn't do it then either.

I have a to do list that grows daily.  I'm responsible for (or will touch) just about every item for the show.  My one saving grace for backup decided to take a full week of vacation this week, so its all been dumped put on me.  Add that to every other responsibility leading up to a product launch, press releases, eblasts, research, databases, content creation, intern training and making sure that everything for the show executes seamlessly.  Today I was tasked with listening to and transcribing an hour long webinar hosted by my nemesis....so not looking forward to this project.  My downtime lately is being used to finish tweaking the book I'm writing, gathering information for our sons football program, soliciting donations and advertising for the upcoming season, along with every other normal home activity.  Thank God that my husband is right by my side, so I'm blessed with the yardwork being done on a Wednesday afternoon, instead of being saved for the weekend where our entire family would tackle it.

Don't get me wrong.  I love staying busy. I don't know how to not stay busy.  Actually, that's not quite right.  There are days I get home from work and I'll I want to do is sit on my ass and do nothing.  You all know how much I love to read; and I am still able to do that.  I get to spend time with my husband, and boys now they are both home and under our roof again.

In three weeks I'll be three days into a trip to Austin for the show.  My days will be filled with the show floor and talking up our products.  I'm hoping my nights involve a quiet dinner, a king bed and the remote control (Kindle, movie, a tub full of bubbles and sleep...you get the picture).  On the fourth day, I'll be wrapping up and flying home.  One day post show, I am refusing to go to work.  I will not take a PTO day, but comp time instead.  I will sleep in late.  I will not answer my phone, or email or instant messaging.  I will avoid the office and instead curl up in bed and put the finishing touches on my book, and then spend the entire weekend shut down from anything electronic. Wishful thinking, right?

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