Oh, Yay!

Sometimes I tend to forget that there are good things to be happy about, small and big, focusing only on the little dramas of my life that make me feel as if I am swimming in tiny circles in my little goldfish bowl. I am probably the world's most impatient creature and if I don't have something to look forward to, the proverbial carrot, I get frustrated and cynical. I do love a certain routine in my life as much as I like excitement, if that makes sense, so I suppose finding the right balance is what I am struggling with.
After a rather "stationary" greater part of October, I have exciting business trip destinations lined up, taking me to Hamburg, Sylt, Sofia, Minsk, Zagreb and Ljubljana by mid-November. Sylt and Minsk, where I have never been, I am particularly looking forward to.
My BIG carrot is the fact that I finally plucked up the courage to ask my manager about a "sabbatical" next summer, i.e. (ideally) 3 months away from work. Since 1997 I have not had a vacation longer than 2 weeks in a row, which of course does not mean I could not have done so. These past months I increasingly felt the need to step back, switch off, unplug and have something like a proper summer break like in my school and university days. I still need to get sign-off from HR, but the first hurdle has been taken and it turned out not to have been a hurdle at all. Dreaming about all the things I'll do or won't do makes me feel happy already.

I had a little health scare (remember my smartphone thumb last year? Scarier, this time, but at least not painful) that I attribute to staring at small screens waaaaay too much and too obsessively and even before that took measures to minimise distractions by switching off any visual or acoustic notifications for incoming messages, e-mails or calendar appointments on my phone. Small step, but better than nothing.

In other news, I am looking forward to Christmas baking and the Christmas offerings at Starbucks. Will report on any successful customising experiments!