Someone asked us recently, “What’s been the biggest adjustment for you?” Interestingly enough, we did not have a particularly good answer for that—with one exception. After over 40 years of working hard (and being defined by your work), it’s been surprisingly challenging to scale back. What does one DO if one’s not working 24/7? What does it say about you if you choose to reprioritize work in your life? So many existential questions here, and I know we’re not alone in this process of redefinition and reassessment. We’ve been reading a ton about this lately, and really took a lot of wisdom from a recent New York Times article “How to Fight Back Against the Inhumanity of Work”, by Tish Harrison Warren. A couple of her points resonated with us:

“There was a time when hunter-gatherers and then farmers worked only as much as they needed to survive, which, according to a report by NPR, was often less than 40 hours a week.” Warren went on to explain that, “The theologian Marva Dawn…would talk about not just taking a weekly day of rest but also cultivating a “Sabbath way of life” — a life in which a healthy rhythm of work and rest characterizes each day and each week, a life in which we can do good, hard, meaningful work and then truly leave it behind. This is the kind of life I want for myself and for every other glorious, limited human being.”

If we consider our rhythm these days, we’ve essentially got three big buckets of activities: plan the adventure, enjoy the adventure, and pay for the adventure. While we’re still working out the smartest balance of those three, we also know that work will always be here for us. That amazing hike in the Great Sand Dunes or through the Garden of the Gods will not be available once we move onto the next stop (well, not until we return in the spring!).

A quick shout out here to Michele’s incredible clients and partners. You have all accepted this remote partnership with grace and good humor, and we are extraordinarily grateful to you all!