So - its September and I missed sharing any insights or encouragements last month. Sorry about that, but I've a great excuse - you see, I was technically 'on holiday'!!
Holidays are a strange feature in the third sector - if asked, just about all of us would agree how important it is that people are supported, nurtured, encouraged, and that includes being well rested: taking holidays! But for those of us in formal leadership or senior management roles, lets face it: how easy is it really to be able to give ourselves those things that we're prioritising amongst the people we're supporting/working with/walking alongside?
Well, this year I was away for a whole week and 2 weekends (mixture of camp-site and a friends' cottage in the South Lake District) - may not sound much, but was the longest official break I've taken from being self-employed for about 3 years. But every day, I trekked about half a mile to be able to get a signal on my phone to get for any urgent messages or emails - and despite scheduling client projects and contracts so that nothing should suffer for my absence, there were 2 contract opportunities that arose that I've missed because I'd promised my family that I wouldn't be bringing work with me (and frankly, working on a camp-site can be a tad tricky with precious few plug sockets!).
But I'm back and feeling good for having been able to devote myself solely to my tribe for that time - sharing new adventures and (mainly) enjoying spending time together. The only downside has been knowing how hard it was to be able to schedule just a week, and then seeing the 'out of office' emails from others in public bodies and larger private companies, saying how they're away for up to 3 weeks!!
No comments:
Post a Comment