Time off

I DECIDED to welcome the new year some place else other than home. It’s not tradition but I’m not traditional.

Melanie Lim

Wide Awake

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I hied off for some much-needed r & r. The work never stops all year round. I have to physically uproot myself from my chair, my desk, my office, my home, my city and often my country, to truly stop working. I know. I recognize it now. It’s a disease.

And it’s getting worse. I truly don’t know if I have the capacity to change through time. But oh well, nothing is impossible. So, we’ll see.

The year usually takes its toll on me by the holiday season. And by Christmas, I’m just about to nod off and fall off my chair completely. As always, I was asleep most of the time on the flight out. It’s fatigue. And well, let’s face it. It’s also age. Let’s just say it’s a combination of both.

It was nice to take some time off from work but guess what? Even on vacation, birds of the same feather flock together. I met up with friends who led equally harried and harassed lives 24/7. Really, who goes shopping on New Year’s Day? Well, these people do. It’s their one day off during the year.

They said I was worse than them. And they came to this conclusion after I told them that one time, my mother told me, “You know, your father asked me why you are angry every day.” Hmm…that is a revelation. At least to me.

I hadn’t realized how angry I had become on a regular basis that it’s become the norm of my day. And I wonder why I have migraines. It’s not just the additives, after all, in processed food. It’s the stress that’s flows into my bloodstream too the moment I wake up and start work.

Come to think of it. I do have a permanent scowl on my face. I have morphed into that horrible boss in “The Devil Wears Prada.” I don’t know how it happened. But one day, I woke up and I was Miranda Priestly.

On a regular basis, I do not walk. I run. Yup. You know the term, “hit the ground running?” That’s me. Literally. All day. From morn till night. Frankly, I can’t stand people who walk. Especially those who walk soooooooo slowly like they’re taking a walk in the park. I mean, not on a work day.

And we all chorused, “That’s why we need to travel.” And that’s what workaholics and horrible bosses discuss when they get together for lunch during the holidays. I do hope I’m not a horrible boss or a horrible person. Just a very conscientious and efficient worker who demands productivity and perfection from herself as well as from others on a daily basis.

For people like me, no unwinding takes place at the end of the day. The unwinding comes once or twice a year after months and months of harried days and nights.

It’s a luxury to wake up at any time of the day, to have no plans or goals, to have nothing on the to-do list. Yes, it was nice NOT to have to lie in bed and have a thousand thoughts running through my mind about how I could efficiently dispense of my tasks the following day.

Sometimes you wish these days and nights would last forever. Well, not really. Who am I fooling? Sure. I need time off. But the bitch needs to come back. Happy new year to all!

(Email: sunstarcebucolumnist@yahoo.com, Twitter: http://twitter.com/melanietlim)