Learning to Live Differently

Many of you have noticed that I have not posted in a bit.  After 13 years (that seems to be my attention span), I have retired from ES3.  It was a hard decision because I love what the company is doing and I love the people.  But my passion is for start-ups and ES3 is a fully functional young company.  

So, I am taking a break from work and figuring out what is next for me.  I am learning a lot about myself in the process.  Things I have learned in the last few weeks include:

1.  People actually eat in Starbucks.  For years I have eaten food on the run in my car.  Breakfast was almost always from a drive-thru on the way to work.  There were even days when all three meals were consumed while driving.  Not good but, efficient.  The other day I went to Starbucks on the way to the grocery store and was figuring on eating in my car in the parking lot when I had an epiphany -- I could actually go in and eat at a table and chair.  This may not seem like much to you but, it was a breakthrough for me as I start to decompress from squeezing maximum productivity out of every minute.  I smiled about this all day.

2.  Going from structured to unstructured will take some work.  My day was always scheduled.  I even scheduled time for myself to work on writing articles, etc.  Going from that to an unstructured day is taking some getting used to.  I find that I still set up some daily goals for myself.  I still feel guilty if I do not accomplish them because it was beautiful and warm and I went for a walk.  I am trying to unlearn that all "chores" have to be done on the weekend.  I am working on having days that are balanced between getting things done and enjoying life.  It will take time.

3.  Untangling your personal and professional life is hard.  I started with ES3 back in the early days of email.  My home email connection was slow and awkard.  I really only ever used my work email address.  I feel a little like Hillary (without the security issues) as I work to change all of my accounts from my ES3 email to my gmail.  It is a lot of work.  I would rather try to change my social security number than go through the process of changing my Apple ID again.  I have spent many hours on the phone with Apple Care.  I miss the tech support that is provided in a work environment but I am learning a lot and will be a better user.

For those who are interested, I will keep posting on my transition.  I will also continue to post on the industry trends that fascinate me.  I am taking a break but, I'm not dead yet.  My new email is available on my profile.  My phone number has stayed the same.