I notice myself falling into it, even now – over a decade into doing this work and building a new way of living. I still find myself sometimes working on vacation…and then that secret hope that people think I’m so dedicated that I work from anywhere.
At what cost?
At the cost of replenishment. At the cost of peace. At the cost of relaxation.
So why?
Fear. Fear of irrelevance. Of not having work to return to. Of people realizing that I’m not really doing that much for them, so why continue?
What’s really true?
I took a 5 week sabbatical in 2023 and had plenty of people ready to welcome me back into their schedules. I know that I do my best work when I’m resourced, not depleted.
Yet still the badge of busyness looms strong.
It’s the water we swim in, in the US. It’s how I was raised and how I was molded in my early career.
AND, I realize that I am very privileged to even be able to travel, relax and reset. For that, I am endlessly grateful.
But the badge of busyness is strong. The value that’s placed on “doing the things.”
Like most leaders I work with, I’d never encourage any of my clients to work while they’re on vacation.
Like most leaders I work with, we sometimes still struggle to walk our talk.
So here’s to more trust and less fear. More flow and less force. More integrity and less programming. Here’s to noticing when old thoughts and fears creep back in, to meeting them with compassion and to gently letting them go.
