Last year I decided that after 25 plus years of self-employment I was going to do something I have wanted to do for 10 years – take some time out.
In 2023 I had a Big Roundy Birthday and some money come in so I decided to take 2.5 months off. I had to book it in at the beginning of the year because I knew that otherwise I’d end up booking in work.
These are my reflections on it so far.
- I thought that without the structure of training I’d feel a bit lost. I didn’t. I found that I tended to line up other projects that included preparing to write a newsletter every week in 2024 after the epic fails of the last couple of years around this. I also began updating my website content (badly needed)
- I really really liked the thing of having nothing to do. That came as a bit of a surprise to me as I am a driven sort of person.
- I want to make more time for these sort of breaks over the next few years. I’ve got some ideas on how to do that but I also know that I feel a great gratitude and loyalty to the wonderful customers I’ve had over the years. So need to ponder on how to navigate that.
- I had planned to do more creative sort of things – I am currently doing a water colour course
- I am enjoying that (The National Gallery hasn’t been in touch yet…) partly because it is so different from what I do. But I notice I find it easier to do stuff for other people than this..
- I had planned to do a jigsaw – epic fail on that one. However a friend kindly sent another one so I will probably start again.
- I am currently up to Season Six of the Sopranos and I am now remembering why I stopped. Irritating dream sequences. Episodes that seem to be there just for the sake of it. However I will persevere because I tend to do that.
- It has given me a lot of space to think about ways I want to improve what I do. Part of that is behind the scenes – getting Zita Lewis (my mighty VA) to do more of the admin and support to ensure everything runs smoothly. Also about ways to deliver in different ways – more videos/online courses, develop ideas from my new book.