This morning when I awoke all I could think was No, please, please, please, for the love of all things holy and sacred in this world, please don’t make me get out of bed right now.
Even Elliot looked at me with a sense of disgust on his face; as if to ask Why would you even consider leaving our comfy bed at this time of the day?1
I really didn’t have an answer. I begrudgingly got out of bed, tried to shake off the feeling that I still needed another hour of sleep and went about preparing for my day.
My day was not much different from most other days. As I’ve written before it was all about meetings2. Today’s meeting required a 3 hour drive. This meant I had to get up an hour earlier than normal so that I could get on the road with my colleagues at an appropriate time so that we wouldn’t be late.
FUN!
Wait. No. Getting up early for a meeting 3 hours away was the complete opposite of fun. But I digress.
The meeting went as expected. That is to say, our agenda was longer than could be tackled in one meeting, but we did manage to cross off several crucial items. Overall, I’ll give the meeting a 6.5 out of 10.
Anyway, flash forward to 5pm when I finally returned home. As soon as I walked in the door, and clearly after I gave Elliot a quick belly rub and some treats, I had to play catch up on all the emails I had missed. Amongst the collection of emails, one stuck out. It was an email related to a Letter of Intent (LOI) that Dr. Beth and I had put together for a larger grant competition.
Sadly, our LOI was not among those asked to compete in the full competition.
Crapshite.
To say that we were bummed would be an understatement. A few expletives may have fallen from our mouths3.
Regardless, it got me thinking this eve. Clearly this morning my mind was telling me something. I wasn’t completely receptive to it, but the message was there. Sitting through another meeting (even if it wasn’t a bad meeting) seemed like an impossible task. I was antsy on the drive to and from the meeting, wanting to be anywhere but in the car. Getting the news about the LOI was far more of a bummer than I should have let it be.
The evidence was there, I just needed to piece it together.
I need a vacation.
And not just any vacation. A vacation without plans. A vacation that doesn’t have a schedule, or planned check ins, or expectations. I need a vacation where I find myself somewhere new (be it geographically, or adventure-seeking-wise), and just allow myself to get lost. I need some time to unwind, let my brain relax, enjoy the sun, take in the fresh air, live life, and recharge.
And so dear friends, I have decided that as of August 2 I will be taking a full week off. And it is going to be glorious. I have no idea what I’m going to do4 and I don’t care, because I know that whatever I do will be spur of the moment and hopefully full of ridiculousness.
1 And yes, I realize that I’ve just written our bed in reference to Elliot and me. But really, he sprawls out at night and somehow seems to take up more and more territory.
2 Oh meetings, how I loathe you so much.
3 And by a few, I clearly mean a lot.
4 Although I do know what I won’t be doing. And that is meeting, unless meeting involves a beach, a cottage, a perfectly good plane for which to jump out of, a CN Tower to lean over, a beer, a scotch, or no pants. Because these are, by very definition, the only good meetings that one should ever want to attend5.
5 My list of good meetings may not be exhaustive.
Related articles
- Death By Meeting (consumedbywanderlust.wordpress.com)
- Bring On The Long Weekend (consumedbywanderlust.wordpress.com)
- 13 Tips to Make Vacations a Reality (openforum.com)
- Time Management Tip: Preparing for a Vacation At Work (theorderexpert.com)
- Want to save 30% of your meeting time? And have 6 weeks extra vacation? (onmyne.wordpress.com)
- 7 Tips on how to conduct a productive meeting (goodmorningmarketer.wordpress.com)
consumedbywanderlust 
I wholeheartedly support this vacation plan of no plans! Letting go and recharging sounds like just what the doctor ordered! Where “the doctor” = you. There will be other days for meetings and grant applications and contracts and various other plans for taking over the world. Enjoy the hell out of that vacation, Dr. Dan. You deserve it. you deserve it long time!
Thanks Dr. Beth. I’ll keep you up to date with whatever comes of the vacation. Even if that means I’m just sitting on my couch staring into space.
This sounds amazing! This vacation better involve a flight to somewhere overseas. It better.
I’ll see what I can do. But only because you said it should.
I was thinking of taking the 8th to the 10th off too to just relax. Great minds think alike.
Yay. When are you doing your birthday celebrations?
Hi, thanks for visiting my blog and for the trackback! Much appreciated. I too am in need of a vacation. Just the other week I was strongly thinking of hitting the open road and just driving with no particular destination in mind but just to get out there and drive…ahh…maybe soon. 🙂 Cheers, Rashelle
Oh, I forgot to add in the above…have a lovely vacation!
Thanks. And definitely do a road trip. Sounds like a great idea. I’m toying with the idea of filling up my backpack and jumping on my bike and just seeing how far I can get.