Well August has been a lovely break from the routine of online life. I have had 2 different holidays pretty much back to back with a couple of days in between to unpack, do the laundry, then re-pack and go… The first holiday was a nice relaxing week in the sun in Tenerife. The second week was a family activity holiday with PGL at their Little Canada site in the Isle of Wight.
Two totally opposite types of holidays and I needed them both. And I am still recovering from a pile of bruises and aching muscles from the activity holiday. It was such a laugh and it was great to spend a week of solid time with my son. That is important for me as a single mum with a 13yr old son.
Be Unplugged Or Not?
I made the decision that I would be totally ‘unplugged’ during that time. Which meant no emails, no texts, no social media – nothing at all – business or personal. Absolutely nothing. This has been quite a talking point in many communities and groups that I am a member of, Or at least maybe I have just noticed the subject more this year?
Many people seem to find it incredibly difficult to switch off the gadgets and the availability and just enjoy their time away. Many feel they are missing out, or fearful that they will miss a big business opportunity.
It’s a Self-Care Thing!
However, I looked at it from the perspective of self-care. There is only me in my household to earn money and support me and my son. So, it would be tempting to stay online checking for the next opportunity, and doing client work when time and connectivity allowed. BUT from a self-care perspective, I am doing me and my son a huge disservice if I become ill and burnt out from being permanently available for work and ever waiting for the next big thing to arrive. We all need to rest. We all need to relax our brains and we are much better for doing so.
Here is a recent article along these lines http://globalnews.ca/news/3657382/brain-holiday-vacation-unplugging/
Being Excited To Be Back At Work
Today is my first day back at work in over 3 weeks. So yes, I have had a mountain of emails to deal with. I have had catch up calls and have been busy planning what September looks like. Rather busy! But I have been looking forward to getting back at my desk, and making plans for all the stuff I want to achieve in September. I am ready and eager to start again. I wouldn’t be feeling like this if I had continued to work and stay connected.
Rather than seeing a constant flow of other people’s holiday snaps, or work-related stuff, I have enjoyed my time off and focused on my holiday experiences. Giving my brain a rest has been useful. I haven’t been thinking about work at all – but the solution to a couple of problems has come to me easily. The solutions have just appeared in my brain ready to be used now I am back at work.
What About My Podcast?
I had also just launched my new podcast Stitchery Stories, I was loathe to leave it ‘behind’ too. I worried about leaving a couple of ‘gaps’ in my posting schedule, especially since it was such a new podcast and I was gaining traction in iTunes ranking. Yes, a large amount can be automated. But, there are still things that I like to do that must wait until an episode goes live so I have live links.
So, I decided that rather than try and cram in my podcast whilst away, I would just leave it. That means I missed a week, then aired an episode then missed a week again. I let the members of my ‘Fan Club’ know via my weekly short newsletter what would be happening and when they could expect new episodes. And then I stopped worrying about it and went on holiday and enjoyed myself.
In the meantime, I am still in the top 200 podcasts under Visual Arts in iTunes and the episodes continue to be found and shared in my absence. It hasn’t shrivelled up and died just because I missed a couple of episodes in August! And now of course I am full of enthusiasm and thoughts and plans about marketing it and growing it and sharing it.
Being A Guest Podcast Co-Host
The only thing I did in the 3 weeks, in the 2 days between the 2 holidays, was to be a guest co-host for another podcast. That was planned weeks in advance and I planned it for that inter-holiday gap. I was guest co-host on ‘Own It The Podcast’ where I chatted with host Nicola Cairncross, as a stand-in for the other regular host, Judith Morgan. Judith was taking her usual August holiday time off too, and had organised 5 stand-ins to cover for her. It’s a nice idea which keeps the podcast going, and adds an element of variety and unpredictability. It was also a lot of fun I must say!
I Enjoyed Being Unplugged – Can You?
So that was my holiday being unplugged.
Have you managed to do that? Do you want to do that? Or do you want to stay as connected as you can, wherever you are and whatever you are doing. That is the ‘laptop lifestyle’ thing isn’t it?
Do you want to have time off from your podcast, but don’t want to ‘leave it’ with no episodes being aired? Why not have a chat with me about providing regular podcast support. I will free you up so you can take time off when you want to. You will also be free to work on only the aspects of your podcast and business that you love and where only you can add value. That was the subject of the Own It episode actually – and you can listen here http://ownitthepodcast.com/145-delegating-v-abdicating/
I hope you enjoy it. And, please let me know your thoughts on unplugging on your holiday.
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