The pilot episode of the West Wing is one of my favorite TV episodes of all time. I love the writing of the show, and I really resonate with some of the characters on the show. In the episode, Josh’s job is in jeopardy and he might get fired by the president. There is a ton more in the plot of the episode including one of my favorite lines of the entire show “… a sudden arboreal stop.”
While all of this is captivating the last scene of the show talks about how they seem to all have been taking a break and it is time to get back to work. The president says, “breaks are good”, and then generally goes on to say it is always good to take a break once in a while to clear one’s head before resuming work. He goes on to say that the break is over and the time for action is now.
This parallels where I feel like I’ve been for a while. Some of it by choice some of it by force. Covid caused me to slow down a lot. I was in the gym every morning and doing acro or something fun every evening before covid started. I was living in California, biking a lot, swimming a little, and climbing and adventuring a ton. Taking photographs with my friends, and traveling to fun spots to take photos. With the pandemic that all ground to a halt. I moved from California back to the east coast and found some fun new hobbies, including coffee, sewing, my dog, taking care of my house, and repairing a boat (which I’ll admit, I’m not good at yet, but I will get good, and my boat will be awesome someday).
Still while finding these hobbies it was hard for me to really grow the way I wanted to grow. I have gained more projects without finishing them. I need to finish. I need to do. I need to MOVE, and I’ve started doing that. The dog makes me get up at 6 in the morning, we go to the beach and I walk a mile (yes, I haven’t posted an update on goals recently, and I’ll admit, I’m not doing great on my 1000-mile goal for the year, but I guarantee I will get more than half of that, which is still a pretty freaking big improvement from last year).
I have started a couple of businesses, one around sewing and one around technology support, both of which are just getting off the ground. It’s not like I’m not doing things, but I have felt clouded. I have felt blocked by something external. Something intrinsic to my life, but something I can’t place a finger on. Finally, I feel like it is lifting and I’m doing things. It might be connected to movement. I’ve gone from not doing much movement to doing a fair bunch. We are acroyoga-ing several times a week and it is fun. I’m walking every day. I’m going back to Crossfit.
So in short, breaks are good, and I don’t lament, resent, or discount my break, but it’s time to put my head down and get back to work!