The Boomer Takes A Christmas Stay-Cation

The Boomer works primarily on his own so there’s really no one to tell him when to work or when to goof off. That’s completely up to him.

All week long he has a big long list of things to do. Working with a lady like Charlene Norman will do that to you. But on Saturday, he parks that list and heads off on heads own.

The Boomer’s Saturday starts with a big breakfast that covers all the main food groups. Bacon, eggs, toast, coffee and fruit. Today’s toast is a very tasty sourdough bread that he got a few days ago on a trip out to buy a new exercise bike. The bread, along with a very tasty macaroon came from a place called Homestead Bakery down on Hartzel Road below the highway and on the way to Pen Centre which is even further south.

While he consumes this retro breakfast feast he writes this piece. It’s really not about anything specific, at this point but he never knows what it will turn into as he motors along.

The Boomer has been more or less laying low over the past couple of weeks, trying to condition himself to write fewer public posts like this one and more posts that are geared toward building his Bullet Proof Consulting business.

This turned out to be a lot less challenging that he thought it would be, since, as it happens, there is always something to do around his house. The house is in the finishing-off stage of renovation, which means a lot of shopping for accessories.

Also, the Boomer’s wife had a couple of her friends from Toronto come and stay for three days, which of course meant no wandering around the house naked at pretty much any time. Not coincidentally, he received, among other things, a very comfortable blue bathrobe, which he has been encouraged to wear in all situations where he would otherwise wear nothing.

Since the Boomer, like most people, is not conditioned to cold turkey solutions to just about anything, he managed to stay on top of his fewer longer format posts commitment by simply writing shorter posts, which are housed in the format you see to your right.

The purpose of creating a 4 walled format like this is to ensure that he would not go blathering on for a thousand or more words on whatever was on his mind that day.

And so far so good because this is the first original longer format post he has done in more than two weeks.

What Does This Mean?

The Boomer has never really been prone to self-analysis or navel gazing to any great extent, so he never really questioned the need that arose in his mind to cut back on frequency.

In retrospect, it may have just been that 2017 was such a dreadfully long and arduous year. A year filled with people in his house who were being paid to be there. A year of adjusting to having considerably more real estate to manage. A year of learning to deal with a pool, which is something he has never had before. And a year adjusting to a new city and a new role in a new business. And of course, a year of watching a country that is very near and dear to his heart slowly start to implode under the weight of its own bullshit and asinine leadership.

By the time the Boomer got to Christmas he was fucking beat. He would turn on his computer in the morning and stare at it for long periods of time until he decided that he would rather be doing the laundry or heading out to shop or well, just about anything other than confronting the written word.

The Boomer was not freaked out by any of this because he has been a writer long enough to have experienced it a couple times before. And in the writing business, knowing when to fish or cut bait is one of the main things that preserve sanity.

So the Boomer unceremoniously declared a two-week Stay-Cation from longer format writing.

And you know what? Once he got over the initial guilt, (maybe 20 minutes) he enjoyed every minute of it. Even the ride to Toronto to see all his kids and grands went off without a hitch on.

He did a lot of photography. He and his sister got to watch the best NFL game of the season (Pittsburgh and New England). He drove to Buffalo and had luch with the amazing Shelley Brown and he boyfriend Mark (also Brown).He caught up on 3 whole seasons of Longmire on NetFlix, saw every important college football bowl game, had a great low key New Year’s Eve celebration, threw a couple of dinner parties, and drove to Niagara Falls in a blizzard just for the hell of it.

In short, he just plain enjoyed the holiday season in true Boomer fashion.

But the most important thing that happened, and this is the big lesson here, the Boomer’s batteries were allowed to fully recharge, so he can attack 2018 with a renewed sense of purpose, a more manageable posting schedule and more energy to devote to building his business on his new turf.

FOOTNOTE: If you work on your own, which a lot of us do, it’s very easy, even for those who are not obsessive-compulsive, to drain your batteries from all work and no play.

My advice is to be mindful of your energy levels at all times, and if you feel you are struggling to get things done, not to fight it, but it step back and take a breather.

This will be different for everyone so there’s no real formula to follow. Just follow your own gut instinct. The time off you take is every bit as important as the time you spend pushing that peanut up the hill.

Have a great 2018. jim out.

In addition to being a beBee Brand Ambassador,
Jim Murray (aka The Boomer) is a blogger, marketer and creative professional. His partner, Charlene Norman is business strategist and operations tactician. Their collaboration, Bullet Proof Consulting, specializes in strategically focused brand engineering: Helping companies achieve, greater operational efficiency and productivity, more effective branding, stronger reputation management and ultimately, increased profitability. In short, Bullet Proof helps companies change their thinking for the better. Find out more at www.bulletproofconsulting.ca.