Some of you may note that I was due back from vacation on the 21st. Well, here it is the 25th and I've just gotten back. You see the 21st came and I just couldn't bring myself to go home yet. I knew I wasn't done. I was still crispy around the edges. So I stopped in at a friend's house on the way home and spent the weekend there. Since he was gone for the weekend, it meant I had the place to myself - a lovely little place on the Connecticut shoreline that allowed me to sit and read and write and visit with the ocean on a daily basis. It was exactly what I needed.
You see, I spent a lot of my vacation driving and visiting with friends. My friends were very gracious and all took great care of me as I visited. I also went to a personal growth retreat called LumensGate and I did a lot of hard-core personal work there. So between all of the socializing and the personal revelations, I needed a little bit of quiet before I came back to the work-a-day world. Thankfully, I had the option to extend my downtime.
I wouldn't have been able to do that if I had a 9-5 job working for someone else. I think that as entrepreneurs we often think about what DOESN'T work in our worlds. But today, consider once more the freedom that being your own boss brings. You could take off in the middle of the day and see a movie. You could sleep in every morning. You could work in your pajamas. You set your own hours, you take your breaks when you want them, and you decide who you will and won't work with. No matter what other items may mar the beautiful outlook of being an entrepreneur, those things remain true. And I, for one, am very grateful.
Ashley,
Yes, this year's LumensGate was particularly insightful for me. I really enjoyed my time there, but the shifts are really foundational this year, so some integration time was in order. It's amazing how much more relaxed and laid-back I am now. Even I'm surprised at the change. Astounding really.