Vacation!

Dear Conscience,

I’m at the airport, with a lot of luggage, and with my family. But without my laptop. For the first time in a loooooooong while, a planned time away from the laptop.

Taking a toddler over 2 layovers to attend a wedding, not exactly stress-free. But I do want to use this time to refill and unwind. I want to be intentional about it.

I got one hour of sleep last night. I was sending overdue emails, packing and filling a job application. All of it last minute due to….well, me.

I also overpacked and spent money on unnecessary last minute shopping, all result of panic, procrastination and disorganization. I want to make travel, and everything else, less stressful. If I want to do things slowly, I have to be planned, organized, and consistent.

Reflecting back on this first phase of my correspondence with you, I am satisfied with my base time rules:

1. Limit phone use from 9 to 5 on workdays and keep it out of bedroom at night.

2. To get things done, do them slowly.

It was an imperfect implementation, but I’ll keep at it. Consistency is more important than perfection. I’ll try to stick to the rules even on vacation.

And I’ll use this vacation cut-off to enter a new phase: space. While time is my biggest foe, one of the most inundating ever-present consequences of my procrastination is the messiness of my space. It’s boarding on hoarding. It’s causing additional delays. And shame.

Given I start this during a vacation trip, my first rule will be about managing the contents of my suitcases. I’ll ruminate about possible specific rules during the flight. But overall, my hotel rooms usually turn into a dumpster within 12hrs of arrival. I’ll try to keep it tidy and experiment with daily “stuff” management now that the stuff is limited to the luggage contents.

Even though, as I said, I probably packed double the luggage that I actually need. But that’s something to tackle another time.

I hope to enjoy this trip. I’ll try. My mental state hasn’t been prone to enjoying anything recently. Time to flip it around.

Sincerely,

B.