Getting Away

 My husband and I just booked a getaway. It will be the first time in years that we have been away and not visited family or gone to a wedding or funeral. We are celebrating a big anniversary this year and we booked a few nights away together in a fancy hotel within driving distance. Still, it's a big deal. In the days BC (Before COVID) we spent a week here and there in Paris and Rome and celebrated another milestone anniversary with a trip to Florence, Italy. Two years of worldwide pandemic have made our world a lot smaller!  

A recent article I read said that Americans take 6 fewer vacation days than the global average and many of those involve taking work phone calls or logging on to Zoom calls while away. I remember my husband taking his work computer to England on vacation and having to log in and fix something.  When he retired last year, he had 7½ weeks of unused vacation accrued! Working from home was supposed to give everyone more time by eliminating the commute; in reality, the line between work and home became more blurred and people worked more hours. 

One benefit of being self-employed is the ability to set your own schedule. The challenge is to set boundaries around your time and actually switch off the business mode. One thing I have resolved to do is take more photographs for pleasure. As a professional photographer, it is easy to forget the sheer pleasure of exploring a subject for fun rather than profit. I love photographing people but I also enjoy nature and landscape photography, so my camera will be going along with me on the anniversary getaway. 

Now that the world is beginning to open up again, it's likely more people will make vacation plans, unplug and enjoy a getaway, even if only for a few days. After two years of restrictions, there's a lot of fun to catch up on! The work will be there when you get back.