When You Finally Take that Break...

Almost everything will work if you unplug it for a few minutes...including you.
Anne Lamott

by Skip Cohen

​It's Reflections time, and as usual, I never focus on business and marketing topics. However, today's post is closer to a business necessity - taking a break.

We spent last week in Hilton Head, SC, with friends, and except for United Airlines challenges, it was a pretty sweet week. As I put the collage of highlight photos together this morning, I was reminded of those first back-to-school "What I did on my summer vacation" projects. As we got older, we were expected to be more astute about our time off. I'm unsure when those assignments stopped, but I know I was NEVER astute.

Well, here I am decades later, and my ability to be astute couldn't be more on target. It's a simple observation - What good is working as hard as we all do if we don't take time off to smell the roses? Sheila and I rationalize a lot - because we live in a vacation destination. There's not as much need to get away. Watching a beautiful sunset over the water, we'll often look at each other and say, "Hey, it's not our last night!"

We both feel blessed to live where we do, but we need to get away more - plus, my camera or phone seems only to come out when we are out of town. Then there's the challenge of finding time with great friends - too often, life gets in the way. 

Here's my point: Take the time off whether you need it or not. It doesn't have to be a bucket list vacation, just time with people you care about in a different environment. And remember to capture a few memory-making shots or videos along the way. 

Wishing you a Sunday to make some memories. Capture them with your phone or camera so you can stop time and look back in the future. Go for those long therapeutic hugs with the people you love the most, and simply cherish time - because there's never enough of it.

And to our friends Wendy and Chip - what a kick to get away with you guys!

Happy Sunday...or Monday on the other side of the world.