Turning Off Work

I'm once again making the journey between Seattle and Los Angeles.  This time I'm taking it as an opportunity to take a vacation.  We have been traveling down the Oregon Coast and have made it to Northern California as I write this.  It's been great so far.  We decided to take the slow route.  Instead of just taking Interstate 5 all the way down, we decided to take the 101 which hugs the Oregon and California coat.  There isn't a lot on the Oregon coast, but we have taken our time and enjoyed the beaches.  Well enjoyed them as much as possible on these Balmy April days.

The Oregon coast is odd.  It seems so disconnected from the rest of the world.  I say that because we would literally go an hour in the car without seeing another car going in our direction.  And it wasn't like we were driving in the middle of the night.  In fact, we only traveled during daylight hours.   I kept thinking about the towns like those in the Pixar movie Cars.  Everyone takes the Interstate and has forgotten about these little towns that use to be on the main highway.

I've taken three days off of work, this is the second day.  The first day, I kept checking my work mail.  I have a smart phone, and it allows me to stay connected almost anywhere I am.  That is normally a good thing for me, but not a good thing when you are trying to relax and have a good vacation.  So today, I made it a point to not check my mail.  I didn't even look at the subject headings.   This was exceedingly difficult for me.  My whole job is to know what is going on and to be available.  Disconnecting is very very hard for me.  But so far, I'm glad I did.  I'm still itching to check my mail, but I have to admit, I feel a lot more relaxed than I did yesterday.  Hopefully, I can stay disconnected tomorrow and decompress even more.