Pressing pause

Oh look! It's Thursday! This must mean yesterday was Wednesday, my regular blog posting day, and yet? I haven't posted a thing. How cavalier of me. I must be on holidays! If you read my last post you will probably realise why this is a rather excellent state of affairs. I needed to mix things up and some quality time with my village and my immediate clan has been just the tonic.

Stepping away from our regular life to take a breather has been good for all of us. It has reminded me of a holiday Mr G and I went on when Miss I was 10 months old.  There are no similarities in scenery, driving challenges, language barriers or food; we’re in Yamba now whereas back then we visited Barcelona and the south of France. The trips couldn’t be more different but both have reminded me that a holiday is any break from the regular.

Spending two days inside with torrential rain teaming down outside was positively delightful here because the four of us have nowhere to be and nothing to do. There is no mad rush to get out the door or get showered or battle traffic. We wake up, we play, we nap, we chat and we don’t battle anything. Well except our favourite terrorist but even that’s more enjoyable than usual because together we present a united front.

Getting a little bit of distance from my regular has given me scope for perspective. It has dawned on me that we are in start up mode. We’re not entrepreneurs trying to snare market share but in lots of ways our brief is similar. We are building our family at the same time that we are building our careers which means the pace is frantic and the conditions are not that different to those facing the commercially-minded guys and girls who set up shop. Capital is limited, resources are stretched and it’s labour intensive. There’s a lot to do, not many people to do it and never enough time. It’s also too early for us to outsource any of it. And, just like many committed entrepreneurs, over the past few months Mr G and I have both been regularly ‘working’ through the night; he dashes to the hospital to repair various bits and pieces while I’ve been up feeding (and willing) a baby to sleep. 

It’s hectic but all of this is ok because we’re in start up mode. This is a phase as opposed to a permanent state of affairs. Yes it’s a phase that might last 10 years, but by then, hopefully much sooner, at least my overnight shifts will be a thing of the past. More importantly though, taking this break has reminded me just how important it is to take regular breaks. Surviving start up mode requires energy and patience…and too long without a proper pause zaps that. So while last week I said this holiday didn’t come a minute too soon, in actual fact it came a few minutes too late. From now on I’m going to press pause more often. Speaking of which it’s almost time for my nap!

How do you press pause when a holiday isn’t feasible?