there is virtue in work and there is virtue in rest;
use both and overlook neither
--- Alan Cohen
Because we are 100% freelancers who rely only on ourselves for our income, we don't have the luxury of taking a full unplugged vacation for a week or two and not thinking about work. So in lieu of that, we instead transplanted ourselves away from the work and made a conscious effort to make time with our people.
We landed in Calgary and had a return ticket booked for thirty days later, so every morning, we woke up at Toronto time to check emails and catch up (before anyone was awake). And then we went for a run with the dog, had breakfast with my parents, and then did more work at home. The afternoons and evenings consisted of coffees, lunches and dinners with friends, hikes and movies, Netflix and Katan; pretty much anything that involved our friends and family.
After an absolutely jam packed first half of the year, with a ton of travel and even more projects, we were starting to feel the itch to disconnect from digital / our work and reconnect with our friends + family. In our case, our lives in the East end of Canada, and our hearts live in the West with the people we love so much. So we decided, with a ton of coordination, to try and take four weeks away from home, not to travel or take on projects, but to spend time.
This was our version of a 'summer vacation' and I had no idea how badly we needed it until it was coming to an end. We left feeling refreshed, energized, and more organized. It was amazing to spend the summer months in our home city of Calgary, where we slowly got to rediscover the city and its amazing food scene, its many new cocktail spots, its endless green spaces, and the mountains just an hour outside.
Although we did do work, it was so refreshing to be away from the hustle of the city and our business, and instead focus on making memories with our people. We have an incredibly busy Fall season coming up, and I am confident to go into it with a very clear mind and a very tackled to do list.
Did you get a chance to summer vacation yet?