I sit here at my computer, digging through the schedule, figuring what has to be done when. There are a lot of things I have to accomplish in the next few months for business, yet, I feel confident and relaxed. For no specific reason - no high coup, no real change in the business climate, no concrete promise of snagging that 'great assignment', not even halfway ready to send out the next barrage of email and snail mail marketing - nothing other than a week of different work. Sound crazy? You betcha!
I took some time off last week, which is probably the best thing I could have done. "Tax Time"; the loss of a cousin and subsequent family politics; a portrait that wasn't going my way; another delay in the next job; bad news from friends; and the list goes on - were all getting me frustrated and feeling down. A week away from all of the day to day stuff, a "Spring Break" was in order. The vacation week came none too soon.
We didn't go anywhere, we stayed here, again. My neighbors will be at the beach, this week, and traveling to be with their kids the next - I was momentarily jealous. The truth is, there are responsibilities we have to tenants who rent from us; and making sure repairs and requests are addressed; and responsibilities we have had to ourselves, that needed looking into. So, it wasn't a carefree 'day at the beach', but we got things done. Sometimes getting things DONE is just as an effective gesture of lifting a weight off of your shoulders, as sunning in the sand.
There was plastering, painting decisions, comparison shopping (I am amazed at the difference in price and installation of the same brand, same piece of carpeting, from one dealer to the next - simply amazed), furniture buying (not so fun trying to fit the over-sized furniture trend into an older, smaller roomed home, but we found small satisfactory pieces, in the end), delivery, installation, more decisions on home repairs and future up keep - all the other potential headaches, made and secured for that day, and another day.
As our crazy schedules are, the things that people who work "9 to 5" schedules have weekends to do, we had to make the time to do. The good news is that things, immediate and long put off, are done. Or will soon be done. There is more to do, on the horizon, there always is. Especially the things that the rain we had this week, postponed for another day - you have to factor that in. We just refocused on another area of work or decision and took advantage of time and store hours. The momentum is there; everything that needed attention is or on it's way to done.
DONE feels good.
Now, even though the majority of the week was spent running, working, crunching numbers and facing the reality of what you want to do and what actually could be accomplished; it wasn't all work and no play. During the week, we spent time with my family, over the holiday; the majority of us were all together; an event, that because of distance and time, doesn't always happen, these days. Fun and laughter. Who doesn't need that! We also got to spend a little of our time with friends that we just don't see often enough, having a holiday during our time off helped. That's next on the list - see friends more often - maybe that will be our goal on our next vacation week. Hopefully, way before then. Once again, crazy schedules and responsibilities permit only short visits in the average week. I have to figure out how to change that. Skype helps, but doesn't always cut it, if you know what I mean.
Now I'm here at the computer and the frustrations of the week before last, are present, but not unsolvable. Some things, like taxes and wondering what's up with the next job, are behind me now. It's out of my hands. Just let it go. It was good to take care of those 'life tasks'. Its good to have the time to check off another few items on the list. I'm in "DONE" mode... move on to the next hurdle and get it done.
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