As with most busy professionals, I live and die by my calendar. I routinely tell people, if it is not on my calendar, it didn’t happen. It is frightening to think that something like this has the power to tell me what to do. It has been that way for years.
Since going digital and having my own personal assistant — my iPhone, that is — it is easy to stay on top of my various calendars by keeping them in one place. I have separate calendars set up for all the various aspects of my life. One is set up for work, home, birthdays and, of course, production work. Each calendar is color-coded so I can quickly glance at my calendar and see what aspect of my life holds my attention for the scheduled amount of time.
Personally, I get a little excited every time I see blue in my calendar. Blue happens to be the color code for my personal life. It means I am doing something for myself, or with my family. Sure, I have chores scheduled under my personal calendar, but when there is a big block of blue, I know it is something good. It’s not often that big chunks of blue fill my calendar; most times it is either green or orange, meaning work or production work.
Over the past couple of months, I got excited every time I turned to the month of July. There was a HUGE block of blue taking up almost a week of my time. It could only mean one thing — vacation.
I know what you are thinking. Last month I wrote, “Sleep? That’s something I catch up on when — and if — I retire.” It is still true, but all work and no play makes Justin a dull boy. Sure, I love what I am doing and, most of the time, I don’t think of it as work. But you have to live a little, too. I love being in a dark theatre and playing with light, but I also love my family and soaking my feet in Lake Ontario.
It is tough to balance a personal and working life. There is the unending hunt for the next gig ,all while in the middle of the current gig. We need to work in order for the money to keep coming in to pay bills.
Time is a luxury, and it goes by quickly. We always wish there was more time in the day to get things accomplished. But the fact remains, we live in a 24/7/365 world. We only have a limited amount of time before the inevitable will happen.
Being a working professional is a great accomplishment. Getting paid to do what you love — it is what we all strive for. But it is just one aspect of this crazy thing we call life. Taking time for ourselves to live outside of the production world is a must to help keep us balanced and sane.
For me, my family is important. While I could have taken a gig recently that would have been an amazing experience, that block of blue on my calendar said I couldn’t. I am okay with that! I needed the break, I needed to recharge and forget about work and be with my family. Nothing is a better distraction than my nieces and nephews pulling me into a water fight and building a home-made kite.
Sure, work is in the back of my mind, but once the water balloons start flying, work takes a back seat. It will always be there.
As August and the summer begins to quickly fade away, I encourage you to take a break, go on vacation, and live a little. No matter how long you step away from work, you’ll feel better for doing it. Work will be there when you return, it always is.
Take a look at your own calendar. How much of it is blue and how much of it is green?
