It's true. I really did take some time off. Can you believe it? I whittled my webinars down to the bare minimum and TRIED to keep myself from going off on a work tangent. I say tangent because I can't help myself when it comes to ideas. But wait, I'm getting ahead of myself.
Okay, the truth of the matter is that since early June, I've been pretty much absent. Bad luck started then and continued for the rest of the summer. First my son's friend passed, then we had to put our sweet furry baby down after 15 years of 24/7 loving companionship, then we lost of one of our two modes of transportation when my daughter's car "Cappy" (should have been called "Crappy"...) gave up the ghost also. Of course insult must be added to injury and our mouse up and died too. So let's just say it's been a bit of a trying summer here at the Gilliard house.
There was a bright side, though, for the first time in four years, my daughter had a full two months of (almost) uninterrupted vacation time. Even without all of the trials, I still would have taken the time off just to spend as much of it as I possibly could with her. This is her last year of Cal. State Fullerton, and beyond a well deserved graduation family vacation already in the works, I can't foresee a whole lot of mother-daughter "hanging out" time with her post-graduation. It was great seeing her more relaxed than I've seen her since she began her collegiate career and watching her adult-up before my eyes... I can't even talk about it!
But even with our television marathons and long chats, I often found myself coming up with some sort of "brainstorm" or another for my business. I'll even admit to doing a teeny-tiny bit of research on a couple of the ideas I had while she was otherwise occupied.
This is not to say I've been completely out of the loop business-wise. I'm researching a Hawaiian vacation which has some curve-balls I'm trying to work around. I've also blocked some group space for a 2017 Norwegian cruise out of Los Angeles through the Panama Canal that my client and I have been patiently waiting for...for like, two years now! LOL
But now Jess is back in school and aside from a couple of hours a day helping to teach Jason how to drive, I'm back to work. With a vengeance! Those ideas I had? I can see a couple of them working out to benefit my business and my host agency. Others, I wonder what the hell I was thinking. teehee!
I am going to have to miss a HUGE learning/networking opportunity in having to cancel my CoNexion reservation aboard Norwegian Getaway in late September. And that makes me more than a little crazy. I tried explaining to Ray why having to forego this event is so heartbreaking, and I *think* he understands.
Look at it this way, imagine you're going to school year-round, but your classes are typically online using slides, except for a couple of times a year when you get to meet the voices behind the slides. All your questions get to be answered and more importantly, explained so you completely understand! You get to meet your fellow students and make contacts. When you take away one of those rare "real life" opportunities and you've worked as hard as I have, the missed opportunity hurts. But when you're a realist, you know that sometimes you have to put some important things aside to address other more important things...and that's where I am now.
But all things considered, if missing the one or two events is the worst thing I have to face in the upcoming months, I'll consider myself to be one very lucky woman!
Okay, the truth of the matter is that since early June, I've been pretty much absent. Bad luck started then and continued for the rest of the summer. First my son's friend passed, then we had to put our sweet furry baby down after 15 years of 24/7 loving companionship, then we lost of one of our two modes of transportation when my daughter's car "Cappy" (should have been called "Crappy"...) gave up the ghost also. Of course insult must be added to injury and our mouse up and died too. So let's just say it's been a bit of a trying summer here at the Gilliard house.
There was a bright side, though, for the first time in four years, my daughter had a full two months of (almost) uninterrupted vacation time. Even without all of the trials, I still would have taken the time off just to spend as much of it as I possibly could with her. This is her last year of Cal. State Fullerton, and beyond a well deserved graduation family vacation already in the works, I can't foresee a whole lot of mother-daughter "hanging out" time with her post-graduation. It was great seeing her more relaxed than I've seen her since she began her collegiate career and watching her adult-up before my eyes... I can't even talk about it!
But even with our television marathons and long chats, I often found myself coming up with some sort of "brainstorm" or another for my business. I'll even admit to doing a teeny-tiny bit of research on a couple of the ideas I had while she was otherwise occupied.
This is not to say I've been completely out of the loop business-wise. I'm researching a Hawaiian vacation which has some curve-balls I'm trying to work around. I've also blocked some group space for a 2017 Norwegian cruise out of Los Angeles through the Panama Canal that my client and I have been patiently waiting for...for like, two years now! LOL
But now Jess is back in school and aside from a couple of hours a day helping to teach Jason how to drive, I'm back to work. With a vengeance! Those ideas I had? I can see a couple of them working out to benefit my business and my host agency. Others, I wonder what the hell I was thinking. teehee!
I am going to have to miss a HUGE learning/networking opportunity in having to cancel my CoNexion reservation aboard Norwegian Getaway in late September. And that makes me more than a little crazy. I tried explaining to Ray why having to forego this event is so heartbreaking, and I *think* he understands.
Look at it this way, imagine you're going to school year-round, but your classes are typically online using slides, except for a couple of times a year when you get to meet the voices behind the slides. All your questions get to be answered and more importantly, explained so you completely understand! You get to meet your fellow students and make contacts. When you take away one of those rare "real life" opportunities and you've worked as hard as I have, the missed opportunity hurts. But when you're a realist, you know that sometimes you have to put some important things aside to address other more important things...and that's where I am now.
But all things considered, if missing the one or two events is the worst thing I have to face in the upcoming months, I'll consider myself to be one very lucky woman!