If I lined up all the lanyards I’ve worn over the years, they’d just about make a rainbow. From the ocean blue one I wore during a marketing internship at my alma mater to the one with Deloitte’s green dot on it, those lanyards traced the zig-zag of my career and its many, many iterations. Which makes not having one feel very odd.
I’ve always worked; some (truly) odd jobs when I was younger, part-time as a student and without skipping a beat since graduation. Work has been the steady feature my life revolved around. More often than not, jobs dictated my address and lifestyle. So taking a few months to do things such as travel, writing and even volunteering – just stuff I want to do – feels pretty indulgent. But it also feels like the absolutely right thing for me to do right now.
I’ve been gearing up for some ‘time out’ for a while now – wanting it and fearing it in equal measure – always finding Very Important Reasons (also known as excuses) not to do it. I’m almost surprised with myself I haven’t this time, and it’ll take some getting used to. It didn’t feel real even when I was handing in my laptop and I still very much anticipate the familiar ‘ping’ of an Outlook meeting notification at any time.
But with my first travel adventure beginning tomorrow – and an eclectic list of things I want to achieve during the next few months growing – I’m starting to feel my headspace clearing to accommodate for a whole lot of new experiences. And that’s pretty exciting.
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monika morgan 