Taking a Vacation

As I mentioned in my April monthly recap, one of the things I was looking forward to most this May was a trip to Maine. If I’m lucky, you’ll be reading these thoughts on taking a vacation when I’m already en route to my Maine getaway – or maybe even at our destination! I’ve decided that I’m actually going to take a short blogging break while I’m away, because I’d like to use the opportunity to unwind and disconnect not just from work (aka my day job as a lawyer) but also the other “work” that I do in my daily life.

 

 

I’m the first to say that I have a wonderful life. I have degrees from fantastic educational institutions that led to a good job in a high-paying field, I live on the Upper East Side of Manhattan (albeit the part normal people live in!) near family and a support system of many close friends, I’m in a loving and committed relationship, I have time for running and my many experiments in gluten free baking, and I get to share it all on this blog. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But no matter how great you have it, life can get overwhelming when things get crazy. You find yourself over-scheduled or just rushing from place to place, and you lose sight of the little moments that make for a happier day. I try to take a beat when I’m stressed to stop and appreciate those moments every morning, like a beautiful sunrise around the Central Park reservoir on my run, or on Park Avenue on my walk to work. As one of my favorite movie characters said, life moves pretty fast, and if you don’t stop and look around once in awhile, you might miss it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sometimes it takes more than a contemplative moment to make sure you’re appreciating life to the fullest. It could mean a day off from the daily grind, or a weekend at home. Or, in this case, a vacation. A departure from a life in a city that’s incredible to live in at this point in my young life but can feel somewhat claustrophobic when you want time and space to breathe. Time to take the focus off a job which, while I am incredibly lucky to have it, has a tendency to dominate not just my weekdays but much of my mental space in general, and from the accompanying thoughts of where my career/future/general life plans currently are and might be going.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To that end, I’m taking a vacation this time in a different way than I have in the recent past. When I was traveling after the bar exam, I blogged from the road in London, the English Lake District, and Oxford; Anaheim, San Diego, and Los Angeles; and Nashville, Tennessee. I didn’t really think of these trips as vacations. I thought of them as travels, whether to old places to visit old friends, or new places to visit old friends! When I went to Florida to run the Walt Disney World Half Marathon last year and this year, I recapped while I was still in the thick of my race-cations. Maine is different. Maine is a vacation. It’s not a place to explore lots of new sights (although I’m looking forward to trying some new restaurants and seeing it through Brett’s eyes for the first time, it’s a place with childhood memories and favorites for me). It’s not a race destination. It’s a place to take a real step back from reality and relax. That means putting the laptop away too, so while I’m there you won’t see me posting regularly. Don’t worry, I’ll be sharing the sights, eats and treats when I return. Stay tuned for next Wednesday, and adieu until then!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Do you blog regularly when you’re on vacation?

 

How often do you try to disconnect?

 

How long are your “blogging breaks”?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

© 2016 Renaissance Runner Girl. All rights reserved.

Advertisement