How to cope when daily life becomes THE job?

I feel like I am sinking into murky waters of stillness. The outside world, with its humdrum routine and daily dredge of activities, is fading away. I am losing the energy to do the activities I thought necessary, like Wordle, log into Two Dots, and go to work. Even though the thought of writing this blog was a chore, the energy required to write the blog was available in my sinking state, so here we are.

I am on Vacation—and it has been a while since I had a proper vacation. It takes your body ten days to fully relax and let go of the pre-vacation vibe or whatever it is called. One of the reasons I love air travel—yes, including long flights—is that, for me, they are the bridge to Vacation and usually home. This time is no different. We left Columbus to go to Sydney, where my brother lives, and my parents are visiting, so it is a perfect family vacation. The flight from SFO to San Francisco was a twelve-hour flight. We had an empty middle seat, so I slept like a baby to the extent one could for six hours, finished two books, and journaled. And a part of me is always sad when the flight is over because that space is precious - I am nowhere, with nowhere to go and no one to answer to.

Anyways so, today is my hump day for Vacation, as in it is the fourth day where my body is adjusting to the new rhythm. When you land - there is the velocity from the daily life that carries over, and as days progress into the Vacation, that dies down to be replaced by a day where you are like what is happening. After that day, you adjust to the new routine of doing whatever you like. And that means you take a nap in the afternoon if you feel like it, you circle the same shops for an hour before you decide that you would rather have sugarcane juice from the first shop you saw, or you go for a walk because you are jet legged, or you read books lying on the couch non-stop with breaks for food, or you talk to family non-stop because they know that is who you are and tend to do that sometimes, or you go to bed at eight p.m and sleep twelve hours.. the possibilities are limitless.

When I woke up the first morning, it took a moment to realize where I was as in the last thirty-six hours, and I had been to SFO, AKL (a layover in New Zealand for five hours) and then SYD. Today, as I was lying on the couch reading a book, I realized that it’s been a while since I took a proper vacation, so I have forgotten what it’s like. Also, work has been intense and very immersive, so it will take some time to emerge from the fog. I have intense dreams that I can remember, which means that I am relaxing. And, of course, this sheer inability to do anything is a good sign.

Right now, I sit in a library reception in a comfy orange chair with fresh sticky chai after gorging on sugarcane juice. Tiny toddlers are playing in a play area, exploring their human functions of crawling, climbing and gawking. A group of teenagers with their laptops, fries, and juices are sitting, working and bonding. A steady stream of people are passing by as they come in and go out of the library with books in their hands. A couple of females are engaged in an intense discussion, which reminds me of my good friend in London: a group of boys are crowded around a laptop doing whatever it is that young boys do, and here I am observing everything as a witness because I have permitted myself to not think about myself but just be as much as possible. The Latin meaning of Vacation is to be unoccupied; in English, it is to vacate.

Here is to being unoccupied and vacating my soul, body and mind of what was to let what is fill it!