Rush, Rush, Rush!

Adam and I are getting ready to spend the extended weekend with part of my family. We are headed to Illinois tonight. We'll be staying with my brothers family and my mom and her husband will be meeting us there tomorrow.

In preparation for this trip, these questions that arose in my head today:

1. Why do we spend so much time and energy getting ready for a mini-vacation?
2. Do we really truly relax once we get to our destination or are responsibilities still on our minds while we are attempting to relax?
3. How do we just leave it all behind and not worry?

I have been extremely busy at work preparing for 2 events that are happening simultaneously over the next few days. I feel that I have been working twice as hard to make these events spectacular and also working on tying things up so there is no reason for anyone to bother me while I am off for 2 days. I need to reduce my stress level after the last few weeks and recharge.

I found this on the Internet and know I felt this way a few times over the last few weeks.

So, I am leaving my work computer at the office so that I am not tempted to check email or have any chance to think about or do any work. This also means that fellow employees can not call me and request that I do any work because I simply can't. We as a society have become so reliant on the quick response technology in place in our professional and personal lives. There is nothing I hate more than someone emailing me, then walking to my office immediately after they have hit the send button to ask me if I received their email. What is the point of that? Do they really expect me to immediately respond to their email? Is there email that important? Do they really have no respect for the work I am currently focusing on? We've become a conditioned society where immediacy is key to our everyday functionality. Take for instance the new social networking application called Twitter. What is the point of this? Why are we so enamored with what other people are doing and thinking all day long? I just read an article today that stated that 60% of the people that try Twitter quit after one month of using the service. Can you say "Fad"?

Well, I envy my husband and am working towards his example he set last August. He went to Costa Rica for a week to help friends move with just a backpack of clothes, his passport, driver's license, 1 credit card, cash, a notebook, a camera, and a few toiletry items. THAT'S IT!!! NO COMPUTER, NO CELL PHONE. I remember asking him, "don't you think you should take this and don't you think you should take that?" He just said "Nope!". He came back completely rested and recharged. (And very sun burnt!)

So, I am taking "baby steps" towards not taking what I think are "necessities" with me on this trip, just the bare essentials. It's good to unplug from the things that keep us so easily connected to the world...especially when we are on "our" time. Vacation days should be reserved for just that...NO work interruptions at all!

So, after writing this post, I have officially decided that I will be leaving my work cell phone at home too. It's a start, right?