From Vacation Back to the Daily Grind

Being away from home, away from the responsibilities of life and the daily grind can be a magical thing.  Getting out of the country and visiting new places is even more fun.  Putting toes in sand, shopping, seeing new things and meeting new people, expanding one's horizons adds so much to a person's life resume.  No, not the resume you use to get a job, but the list of things you have done and accomplishments you have made.  I believe that should be just as important. 

Living means getting out and doing things that are not the same old thing you do every day, spending a little of that money you work so hard for to get out and do something for yourself, buying a pretty or two, or even just seeing something for the first time.  These experiences can even be relatively free.  Get in the car and just drive until you get tired of driving and see something new.  Pick a place on a map within a half a day's drive and go.  Those little excursions can be just what the doctor ordered for a tired mind or broken soul. 

For me, those little jaunts lead to bigger and further travels, this time taking me first to New Orleans, LA, then to Key West, Freeport and Nassau in the Bahamas.  What an amazing trip it was too.  Getting back on the ocean, cruising in style with roughly 3600 other people from all walks of life, seeing beautiful places, sunrises and sunsets on the sea, local wildlife, fabulous people in other countries, it was just an amazing vacation! 

One problem, it was just not long enough.  Back to work only one day and I remembered all too well why I needed a vacation.  The insanity that is the daily grind.  Watching people fall into the circle of insanity, doing the same thing over and over expecting different results yet refusing to listen to common sense and jump out.  This happens a lot in corporate America.  I also feel I personally have fallen into the same circle of insanity.  SSDD...Same Sh*t Different Day. 

Now is when I need to reevaluate the circle of insanity I am running in and decide which path I wish to jump towards.  Kind of like deciding what to be when I grow up, time to choose a path.  So many choices, just want to find one that will not make me dream of vacations but feel like my daily tasks are so much fun I don't look for time away.  Time to start making lists of what I do and don't like, what I want to do every day and what I don't.  Either finding a company that really cares about it's employees enough to pay them properly and give raises to show that their hard work is appreciated, insurance that is actually usable, and the comfort of knowing they will have a job in a year or go back out on my own as an entrepreneur again.  So many choices. 

I definitely have my work cut out for me.  I am ready for the task.  Coming up on my half century birthday soon, and craving something new.  Not a mid-life crises, more like an awakening to fact that I have been not-so-happy with what I spend most of my waking hours doing 5 days a week.  I am good at what I do which was proven to me even just yesterday as I returned from my vacation to be told by the person who was covering for me he never wanted to do it again.  My skill in what I do proves I love my work, problem is it is hard to want to push yourself to do better when the company you work for doesn't care enough to show it's employees they have worth by pay increases and good benefits.  The incentives have been lost. 

I wish that the company would actually care but wishing that seems as fruitless as trying to raise the dead.  Guess it's time for me to either become a full-on zombie or wake the hell up and make some decisions.  I have some homework to do.