Off the Grid

I've just returned from the most amazing vacation of my life. An 18 day trip that included a 12 day Mediterranean cruise. (Pics and info coming soon...)

Since I have my own business, it's not exactly the best idea to stay completely out of touch for such a long period of time. But I prepared for it: I did six months' worth of work in the month before I left...I prepped my clients...I set up support systems...

I was determined to completely disconnect from the "real world" during my trip. I wanted to know what it was like to completely enjoy luxury and be 100% stress free for a few weeks.

I changed my facebook status to let everyone know I would NOT be on email or facebook. I informed clients they could reach me via text or voice mail if it was truly critical (I had faith that it wouldn't be). I set my auto-response on all my email accounts so people would not expect an immediate response.

I knew that cutting myself off would be the only true way to decompress and completely relax.

I brought my blackberry with me, but turned off all data/email service.

And it worked. Mostly.

I stayed completely out of touch for a week and a half. I'd say it took about 4 or 5 days to truly, completely settle into full fledged "vacation mode". And that lasted for a few days. It was a glorious feeling.

Ten days into my trip, as I lay on a chaise lounge on the sun deck of the Ruby Princess, random thoughts would enter my mind. Curiosities. Pieces of unfinished business. I reached into my bag, pulled out my blackberry, and set my data service to "on".

The messages poured in. Over a thousand. I scanned them, looking at the ones that made me curious, deleting the worthless ones, responding to a couple. Scheduled an appointment with a new client, answered a time sensitive question about an upcoming trip, solved a problem that I thought I had already solved before I left.

Took about two hours to scan through and sort through all those messages.

I turned my data services back off. I was convinced I would go the rest of the trip disconnected. I simply had to.

A few days later, the vulnerability in my plans was revealed.

I received a voice mail.

The message was from a woman who used her first name only- I know many people with that same name. She spoke as if we knew each other well...And she said that she was calling about hiring me for a project for her company, and she wanted me to call her back asap. She also said she'd be "shooting me an email" with all the details.

Shit! I can't just blow off new business...especially after this trip.

Apparently, in all my preparation, I did not change my outgoing message on my cell phone. So the woman calling would have no idea that it would be several days before I responded.

Which meant...

I had to respond right away. I didn't want to call her, because it sounded like I was supposed to know who she was and I didn't want to be unprepared.

I had to turn the data services back on...More messages poured in...hundreds. Including hers.

I solved the mystery, responded to the potential client, and yes, it was perfectly OK to call her when I got back in the country.

But it was too late. The work brain was turned back on. I fought it with every fiber in my being for the last week of my trip. I was mostly successful, but I had lost that pure inner calm that I had during days 5-10 of my trip.

Damn that sense of responsibility. And damn technology.