Tag Archives: holiday

A little escape

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My wife and I got away for a couple nights to Whistler. We had an event Saturday night in Pemberton, but stayed Friday night as well. Besides having the smoothest, fastest drive there and back, we also had a fabulous weekend getaway.

We checked in at 6pm and ordered room service. Then didn’t leave the hotel until we left for the party at 5:30pm Saturday night. We didn’t go into the village, we didn’t do anything other than go to breakfast at the hotel restaurant, and I had a short workout and hot tub before my wife got up Saturday morning. Lunch was junk food and protein shakes that we brought with us.

In other words, other than meals made for us, we didn’t do anything we couldn’t have done at home. In fact, my gym and hot tub are nicer than the ones at the hotel. Yet it was a fabulous little escape.

Isn’t it wonderful to step outside of the usual routine and go somewhere other than home? We enjoyed the party Saturday night, but even more so we enjoyed the getaway. Sometime a little change of scenery is all you need, no big plans, no schedules, just time away doing nothing special other than being together. We don’t need big plans all the time. Sometimes small, almost ‘nothing’ plans away from home are more than enough.

What happens in between

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Well, today is my first day going back to work after the summer break. While the first day of school isn’t here yet, I will restart my regular morning routines and get myself ready for the craziness of September. This time of year always comes with excitement and a touch of nervousness. What will the new year bring? What’s in store for the next year?

Preparation starts in the mind, it begins as a seed of promise waiting to blossom. It will be a great year.

Then the actual planning begins. But the reality is that preparation only takes you so far, then it’s up to you and your team to execute; to hit the ground running; to make the students feel welcome… and to help your students see the potential for the great year ahead that you see.

And it all starts today.

It’s also time for something else. Tonight my youngest daughter returns from a 100 day trip to Europe. This is the longest she has been away from home, and after a fabulous adventure she is on her first of two flights back to us. It has been amazing to follow along on her Instagram travel account, and also get occasional early morning video calls of her sharing her location and what she’s doing. Seeing tiny snippets of her day.

As my new school year begins, my daughter’s European adventure comes to an end. It’s a reminder of the cycles we go through, the starts and finishes. We often focus on the beginnings and endings, the big calendar events….

What’s important to remember is that the adventure is what happens in between.

A 2 beach day

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It’s the day before I head back to work and at 7am I hopped on a ferry to Victoria to visit my eldest daughter. We wanted to go on a hike to a waterfall and headed out to Sombrio Beach. We went to a the stunning falls but the hike itself was extremely short.

So, we hopped back into the car and headed to Mystic Beach. This was a bit longer hike to another beautiful beach. It too had a small, spitting waterfall right near the ocean.

Then back to Victoria for delicious prawn tacos at one of our favourite restaurants, Cafe Mexico.

12 hours later and I’m back on a ferry heading home. Such a wonderful day with my kid to end the summer!

Densification and congestion

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Snuck away to Whistler for a couple nights. It’s funny how different parts of the drive can feel longer or shorter depending on if you are heading to a destination or coming home. What’s not funny is how much longer drives like this take these days.

What used to be an under 2 hour drive is now at least 2.5 hours, and longer if you hit bad traffic, like we did coming home. Vancouver roadways were not designed for the current population, and as more people move to the lower mainland, with high rises going up everywhere, it’s only going to get a lot worse.

I’m not sure what the solution is? The public transportation routes are not ideal to go car-less and every time I get on the road I feel like traffic is heavier. It makes me appreciate how lucky I am to have a seven minute commute that only involves three traffic lights. I wouldn’t want to be a regular commuter in the suburbs of Vancouver.

Work lurks

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I have gotten a lot better at leaving work at work over the last few years. I’d happily stay at work some days past 5:30 or 6pm, knowing that when I go home I can let things go until I arrive back at work the next day. That never used to be the case. I used to regularly respond to emails and continue to work well into the night.

What started to change this for me was my Vampire Rule for Email that I started for my staff, essentially never contacting them for anything work related after 6pm (unless like if I was a vampire, they invited me in… If they emailed me a question for example). After doing this for a few years, I realized I deserved the same courtesy. So, I’d stay at work a bit longer, knowing that if I was caught up enough on important matters, everything else could wait until the next day.

It’s a little different in the summer, when I’m off for so long. Today I looked at my growing unread emails, and realized there are a few things I need to deal with. Today I did a few quick ones, but I’ve got a few that need a more thoughtful or time consuming responses. Now it’s in my head and I know that if I don’t deal with them tomorrow, I’m going to spend some mental energy thinking about the fact that I need to respond.

Essentially, I either deal with it quickly, or work just lurks in my brain rent free, with niggling reminders that there is stuff I need to do. Because I don’t have an official work day coming up anytime soon, the idea that there is work on my plate stays on my plate and on my mind until I get it done. My choices are get it done tomorrow morning or think about it the whole weekend.

I’m definitely better at letting go and having mental breaks during the school year, but on holidays I still need to do these mental gymnastics to keep work from lurking in my mind when I should be enjoying my break.

Bad weather, good day

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I dropped my car off at the designated location and my buddy picked me up, boat-in-tow. There was a light drizzle as we headed to Long Point on Lake Erie. When we arrived at the lake it was pouring rain. Fortunately the hard downpour didn’t last too long and settled back to a drizzle.

We fished along the outside of the retaining wall which served to protect the boat launch, not wanting to be too far away with a possible thunderstorm in the forecast. My buddy caught 3 small bass and I came up empty handed before we headed in for lunch.

We planned an early lunch to coincide with when the worst rain was scheduled according to our weather radar we had looked up on my phone. Sure enough the rain really picked up just as we were heading to the covered picnic area.

Then we ate delicious deli sandwiches as rain poured down. Like clockwork, the rain started to subside minutes after the radar map said the worst had passed, but it was possible it would continue to rain the rest of the day.

Still, we got back in the boat and headed out. We crossed the bay, knowing the worst of the rain was over and wanting to hit the shallow reeds we fished a couple years ago. Sure enough the fish started biting, and my friend was relieved that his guest was also able to catch some fish. And the rain stopped.

It would have been easy to let the rain discourage us. To cancel the trip, or to call it a day at lunchtime. But instead we decided to make the most of a very wet day. The reality is that we would have had a great day even if we didn’t catch fish… but I’d be lying if I said that catching 20+ fish between us didn’t make the day that much more special.

Holidays and routines

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I know that the reason I fit my meditation, writing, and fitness regimen into my day is because I wake up early and because I have a routine that I maintain. In fact the idea of routine maintenance is normally a bit of an oxymoron for me because when I’m running my routine there is no maintenance required. My alarm goes off and my routine begins. No maintenance needed. No motivation needed… It all just gets done.

Then comes a holiday and suddenly the routines are out the window. Now I need to think about when I’m going do the things that I normally do without thought or effort. And since thinking, effort, and motivation are all required, it all gets a lot harder to do.

There is the running joke that if you need to get something done, give it to a busy person. Well, that sums up my routine tasks. Give me a small window and say, ‘All this needs to be done in this short time,’ and I get it done. Give me a whole morning to do the same, and it will take me all morning. Parkinson’s Law in effect: “work expands to fill the time available for its completion.”

So now as I start thinking about enjoying my summer I’m also thinking about routine maintenance… something I normally don’t usually have to think about at all.

Happy Canada Day

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I’m not going to watch fireworks tonight.

I haven’t done anything uniquely Canadian.

I’m not wearing red and white, and I’m not waving a flag.

That said, I’m a proud Canadian. An immigrant who calls this land home. And at this time I feel uniquely free compared to living south of our border.

On top of that, I actually had a medical test today that would have cost me hundreds or thousands of dollars down south, and it only cost me $7.50 in parking.

No, I may not be celebrating Canada Day out in the open today, I’m only having a small backyard bbq with family. That doesn’t mean that Canada Day isn’t special… because it is.

To all the proud Canadians out there, Happy Canada Day!

The picture tells the story

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Friday was the last day of school, and while I had a good weekend before heading back in to work to clean things up, I felt very unmotivated. When I saw this image shared by a friend and coworker, I knew I had to share it too.

There is a saying, “If you want something done, give it to a busy person.”

Summer holidays always start very slow for me because suddenly I have time… the time that I said I wish I had, to do all the things I wish I could do. For me that’s more daunting than exciting. I have routines that automate a lot of the things I want to get done. Remove the routine, remove the automation, and suddenly everything takes effort, everything takes motivation, and motivation is harder to maintain than good habits.

So, I’ll go into a bit of a dip. I’ll struggle just to get the usual stuff done, despite having more time. Then I’ll adjust and it will all get better. But I’ve learned to give myself some slack and just slack off for a bit first. And that’s what this weekend was all about.