I buy a new diary each year in January whilst I'm on holidays. The very first thing I do is put my name and contact details inside the front cover. The second thing I do is to put in all the essential birthdays and anniversaries for the year. And the third thing I do? Draw a pencil mark through my anticipated holiday breaks throughout the year. Go north for two weeks in winter about this time... Take season breaks around here... Right, now I'm ready for the year! I've been a fulltime freelance musician/entrepreneur since 1989. I go from project to project writing songs and soundscores on commission (demand). Early on I got myself to a point where I was exhausted from working long hours for short pays! And then something happened - I fell in love with a very dedicated holidayer (also a well respected longtime freelance writer). She wasn't going to take 'I'm too busy worrying about my work' for an answer when it came to taking breaks. Learning to plan and budget for holidays has made my life as a feelancer/entrepreneur more bearable and, surprisingly, more productive. I know when I can work. I know when I can't. So I mould timelines and schedules around what is known. Focus is a brilliant companion in creative endeavours. Focus and limitations! The alternative to taking an annual holiday is to be hanging in a state of perpetual anxious availability. Everything gets worn down - relationships, energy, finances. By taking some control and framing my year I get to contain my workloads and colleagues' expectations of me. My health is stronger so I need to spend less on healthcare. My satisfaction is up so I need to spend less money to pleasure myself. Yep. It's pretty simple really. Yeah, when I was 20 I thought if I appeared to be always available I'd be more respected. Instead I was financially broke and blurry with boundaries, indecisive in my personal relationships just in case a job arose. Not a good look! When I got into the groove of taking holidays things gradually changed. I could pace myself, be relied upon to turn up for the annual holiday with my beloved (albeit neurotically at first) and give clear signals to the people in my life that they too are a priority. And you know what happened? Work increased. Pay increased. Job satisfaction increased because when I got overwhelmed I could take a moment and project myself into the holiday vibe. Creative burn out can happen even in inactivity. Anxiety doesn't require employment to work overtime! Not used to taking a regular holiday? Planning for travel? Squirreling away a percentage of all you earn to guarantee a break? Uncomfortable admitting to people that you travel and holiday every year and will sacrifice a creative job to do so?!!!! What is this? Martyrdom? Lack of faith that there will be more jobs where that came from? Or possibly addiction? A tip in beginning this weening off the 'always available' addiction is to simply state that 'on this date I'm unavailable.' If, by ommission it is easier to let people think you are working somewhere else, so be it. Get your diary and pick a time of year where the work load is low, the weather good somewhere else and pencil it in now! How anxious are you now, reading this? Can you do it? Are you already doing it? Cos if you're lucky you'll have twenty years or more of running your own businesses/projects. God! That's a hell of a long time to go without annual restorative work. Have some faith. Have an annual holiday. Travel. Get away from all the things that are raggedy on the edge of your vision; begging to be finished or dealt with. Take off from the regular and its possibly fatiguing effect. And don't miss the pleasure of being a daggy old tourist who doesn't have to turn every experience into a creative outcome or a business idea. |
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