Pause

The school term is beginning. And, strange as it sounds to me, my daughter's summer holiday ends at the very height of summer. The day is still simmering like a freshly made hot dog, and it's intermingled with rainy spells, the way it can be in midsummer.

Before her school starts tomorrow, I have taken a day off to let our brains enjoy downtime. We had a short waterfalls hike to fuel up and to cool down. Downtime gives us the pause button, making us maximally effective. We toggle between full attention at work and free-form attention. If we fly out of the town (like what we usually did before the pandemic), we can get the sense of you-can't-reach-me freedom by putting our phone on airplane mode.

It's funny to consider short break - like a day off now and then - one of the least chaotic ways to switch on and switch off. So now, people have every reason to find me when I have short break - and no excuse for seeking complete solitude. All of this means that we aren't categorizing our time into binary opposites - much as we like to do so - and won't be completely on or completely off. It's also one reason why I like the short break. For one thing, I don't have to cram extra work at the last minute before vacation. And then, no more stressful return-to-office "mountain of work".

And there, with a simple swipe of working mode and downtime, I have my perfect way of family holiday.