LIFESAVING MEASURES

Last month, I toured the retreat ranch where a lucky few of us will gather in January. It was immediately apparent that the owner, Traci, and I we were kindred spirits. She shared about a recent meeting she attended where they were instructed to make conversation while avoiding the standard fare of kids, jobs, relationships. Not surprisingly, she confided, it was difficult. 

On Friday, I visited my soul sister, Kelsey. Our conversations would likely be incoherent to any outside observer. We weave through topics as exhilarating as manifestation and as deep and dark as inner child wounds. In the end, we are magically recharged, as if laying bare our innermost thoughts leaves us renewed rather than raw.

I am preparing to exit my 9-5, and am drawn more than ever to these enriching connections. It’s pretentious to say I’ve leveled up from small talk but, to be blunt, that’s a clear way to describe it.

Most business conversations begin with “how are your kids?” or commentary on recent weather conditions. There is nothing wrong with this, and it helps to foster connection even with the most casual of acquaintances. When it consumes the majority of my time, however, and robs my schedule of the ability to create more meaningful work, I must walk away. 

In addition, the 9-to-5, forty-hour work week has been disappearing for quite some time. I remember fighting the urge to eat lunch at my desk as early as fifteen years ago, when I worked at Academy Sports & Outdoors. The campus cafeteria and readily available to-go containers made it easy to power through the midday break. 

When I speak about boundaries these days, I encourage audiences to take at least some of that hour to go outside, get some Vitamin D, breathe in some fresh air. Sadly, the percentage who implement that suggestion could probably be counted on one hand.

It is the breakneck speed at which we careen toward nonstop hustle culture, the lines between work and personal lives blurring, that has me questioning its affect on my health. Skyrocketing cortisol levels in women my age result in forced breaks, not carefully curated sabbaticals. I strive to avoid that fate.

Nike was my largest business partner when I worked at Academy. Their most tenured employees were required to take a five-week sabbatical - no emails, no phone calls, nothing work-related. It was like maternity leave for midlife. 

For me, taking this essential time off means leaving my job altogether. I’ve never had children, so the longest break I’ve had from working a white-collar desk job is the 2.5 weeks I took last year for my Bali-Australia trip. 

I’ve sprinkled days in here and there to maintain my sanity and pursue personal passions. Recently, I learned the hard way that my “unlimited vacation” perk has an unspoken limit. It was during that conversation that my oxygen mask dropped from the ceiling. 

After twenty-six years in retail, I decided to use it.