Holiday Unwind

Finally, some time to unwind. A few days.. but I’ll take what I can get.

Or rather, I'll take what I give myself.

If you own your own business, you know that you can never really turn off; Never really sleep with both eyes fully closed.

I got together with a friend who’s grown a successful agency, doing billings in the millions and yet he still can’t entirely turn off. You just feel like you can't let any lead slip away, no matter how illusory.

He's been reading the autobiography of a long-dead Chinese philosopher who noted that;

"Only those who are truly successful have the ability to just loaf around."

So he's trying to modify his relaxation time. To "loaf." And so am I. Becuase otherwise what's it all for? But I don't feel successful. And that's the paradoxical curse of ambition. When is there a point where you can just relax?

I guess all this work runs in the family.

I’m here at the coffee shop with my sister who’s not only working full time but is also getting her Ph.D. And my dad was up at 6:30 working in the lobby of the hotel we’re staying in.

But honestly, this is healthy for me. I came with my laptop, but I’m not opening up any projects. I’m just here catching up on some reading and communicating with you.

Reading and writing is me-time.said I lucked out in this department.

But I don't have kids so maybe this dance is harder than I think. I’m not ready for the responsibility, or rather, I haven’t achieved the cash flow to make me feel it’s a possibility. Like my legal counsel, of which both partners at the firm have twins! How do they do it!?

Then again, maybe I'm too logical about all of this. I can’t imagine that everyone is outlining and planning on having a family before they do.

Instead, they fall in love, and a family happens because we’re emotional beings acting on our Sapien impulses.

So that’s part of the goal in the year ahead. Stick to emotions over logic. I’ve let that side of my brain win out for far too long.Except in my art, which is where it has the best chance to flip.

And the other goal is to minimize the amount of importance of any given situation, which reduces stress.In business, everything’s an obstacle. Each day or week or month you’ve got a wall in front of you, and it's your job to find a way over it.

But some people see every wall as tiny and a game to skip, play and jump over, while others get frozen visualizing the wall as massive and unpenetrable.

I guess what I mean is that every situation is stressful or not based on your perception of it's importance and difficulty. We give our problems significance or we reduce their significance and laugh.

Better to opt for the latter and keep perspective.

I’ve stressed too much in the past, making obstacles into giant wall: Which is why I ultimately got Shingles last November. I had four vaccines before my trip to Asia, which brought my immune system down and let the stress seize its opportunity for revenge.

But for some reason this holiday season is different.

I’ve done it! Well mostly. I worked all last week, through Saturday afternoon.

But on Christmas Eve and Christmas I was with Patty's family, and I was entirely disconnected! We hung out on the couch, I ate too many sweets, and we watched Elf, White Christmas, Frozen.

So this year I feel like I've taken advantage of my time. I’m seeing the break as a time of opportunity for my brain to recharge and file away everything in my head that needs to be sorted and compressed to free up space for the next year. To accept and welcome a few days of time to unwind and not have anything to do.

I’m warm, and I’m planning the year, and I’m catching up on reading and grateful for space. I know not everyone gets it. So take time for yourself when you can, and if possible ride with the rhythm of the season into 2018.

See you soon.

xx David