Take The Time Off
As I watch the Dodgers take on the Giants in another addition to their rivalry, I begin to reminisce. I think about the two weeks I took to rest between jobs, how I spent my time, and how everyone should really disconnect for an extended period of time.
I recently left a job that I have been at for four years. I will be starting my new job today and I am scared. I am excited and I am ready. Scared because anything new is scary. I am excited because I am betting on myself to overcome the obstacles of working fully remote, learning a new position, and rebranding yourself.
During this time off I didn’t take a trip anywhere. I stayed home. I tried to sleep in, watched some movies, connected with loved ones, went golfing, beat up on a piñata, and had a health scare.
Every Summer you see people cleaning their Golf clubs, ironing their khaki shorts, polishing those golf cleats. The air smells different, the grass is a crisp green, and the wind just carries. Golf is a special sport, it is mental, it breaks you, you may think you are having a good day and one bad hole, it can ruin that feeling.
I told two good friends that during my time off I wanted to go golfing, they made the effort to join me. One has never golfed in her life and the other only has golfed once before. We are all new to this, but willing to give it a shot. That is all I wanted. We played 9 holes and it was glorious. We are planning on doing it again soon. I am blessed
Recently, I have been losing sleep because of the blackhole that is TikTok and Reels. I stumbled across an account called Somethinglatino. I watched these Reels and I felt like I under-appreciated my family back home in Los Angeles. I related to just about every video this account posted. I connected with the stories, the jokes, and how proud they were of being Latino. There was a point where one video made me cry. It was about how a young woman was graduating college and their parents missing the ceremony because they were working. The caption was “I am living their American dream.” I related to it because my mom’s hustle got me where I am today, I am living the way she wanted to live when she immigrated to this country. I spent some good time with my Mom last week, she told me she was proud of me and was happy about where I was taking my career (even though she doesn’t understand what I do for work). I appreciated the words. They mean everything.
It is funny how life works, you feel a certain way about something and then immediately life shows you a way to reconnect to what you are missing. Our babysitter invited us to a surprise birthday party for her husband. How could I pass up an opportunity to eat Birria, Mexican Rice, and partying with people I consider family? That’s family. I felt so comfortable and felt that a party like that was necessary for me. I felt so accepted by those around me that I even hit the piñata. Making a fool out of myself in public was never something I did. I did that night and I would do it again. I needed it.
My homie had a baby recently and I wanted to meet the little one. He said needed some time away from home and wanted to go somewhere for lunch. We caught up on his changes and he talked about how he was feeling a little weird health wise with constant headaches. He went to the doctor and got a clean bill of health. That got us talking about how our family members always avoided going to the doctor because “they always say something is wrong.” Over the last few weeks I have been feeling off as well. I went to the doctor and had some test done, they didn’t find any issues. They will continue to do more test. I am hopeful that the test will come back with a positive result, I have been keeping active and I am feeling much better physically and mentally.
I had dinner with an old coworker who has become a friend, we talked about work, kids, and how music makes us feel. I view this friend as a mentor, when he speaks, I listen. When he speaks his words hold a ton of volume. Every time we connect I learn something new, something I should improve about myself, something to make myself a well rounded professional. What I took from this dinner was needing to be more concise with my needs and feedback. It is important for me to keep learning, keep challenging myself, and never becoming content.
Time to recharge is important. The time I took off allowed me to continue to learn about myself. It also showed me who is important in my life. Who provides continues to fill my Love Language Bucket. Work can always wait, but spending time doing things that provide you joy can’t. Take that time off. Its worth it. Now back to work I go, wish me luck!
