Day three of a four-day staycation, and the big sign project has definitely been the theme of the week. Once again, I am in pitched battle with my own neuroses: isn’t this something I should be doing on evenings and weekends? Do I need to take vacation time for this?

Vacation time is a bit mythical in my mind, I think. I always whine at the end of vacations about not having “done enough” or feeling “recharged”. Maybe this is a symptom of me needing to make some non-vacation changes and deep thinking about my job and my life and my stressors, and not look at a few days of dicking around out of the office as some sort of magical panacea.

That might be the theme of this last big day of vacation: work on volunteer stuff this morning, clean house physically with my wife this afternoon, and clean house MENTALLY. Hammock time. Make some notes on what I find rewarding about work, unpack what’s bugging me, and figure out a better strategy for goals and progress that’s satisfying but less emotionally demanding than how I’m approaching it right now.