vacation and perspective

I've been away from work for 8.5 days now. It has been a nice break - much needed for some new perspective and clearing of the mind. Usually when I'm not at work, I'm thinking about work... trying to memorize dates, writing lists in my head, and sometimes even emailing myself so that I don't forget something. This week, I have only thought about work peripherally. I did have to follow up on one project, but I know everything else can wait until I get back on Tuesday. I've been amazed at how much I've accomplished this week - stuff I've been putting off for months - and how easy it was to do all of that and still have some time for fun without having a pesky job getting in my way. Of course, I realize how fortunate I am to have a job that affords me such luxuries (and I use that term VERY loosely). This school year is probably going to be hard. We're coming in from a very successful effort with our entering class, but now we have the expectations to maintain and exceed that success in the coming years. I'm looking forward to the new challenges and opportunities that will undoubtedly arise, but I definitely needed some time away in order to realize that.

This break has given me some time to exercise some creativity. I finally framed and hung some pictures I took in New England last summer, and I did a major art project for my bedroom. I'm not real happy with the current placement, so I may be re-doing that this week, but the basic stuff is there. I've also been reading, writing, baking some fun new creations, singing, and hanging out with people. The fun, relaxing stuff has been a good compliment to all the laundry and cleaning and organizing I've been doing. In any case, the sense of having accomplished things is certainly nice. And it has also given me the chance to recognize that I can't put that kind of stuff off anymore until "when I have time." All that stuff really needs to happen all the time in order to prevent feelings of stagnancy and being completely stuck. I'm looking forward to implementing that this year too.

I've been thinking a lot about ways to incorporate creativity into my life again. I've missed it a lot over the past couple years - not being regularly involved with creative ventures outside of work, and feeling too drained to really explore them. But I'm finding some stuff that is a little outside my usual scope, and I'm feeling pretty inspired by the whole creative process again. Looking forward to seeing where that will go.

(Side note, it's like 1am... and there is definitely something very loud happening outside in the street. Sounds like fireworks. But I'm a little hesitant to check it out... I'd like to come back in alive.)

My gosh, I'm tired. It's time to go to bed. I love awkward endings.