I left CNN near the end of last year, about 8 months ago. I’ve never had more than a week off between jobs and this break has been glorious. I didn’t sell all my possessions and move to Fiji. No, my dramatic escapes have been more targeted, due to my inability to get free from the ball and chain of my loving family.
Sometimes the type A person in me wonders whether I’ve made the best possible use of this precious time. On some level, this is dumb. The point was to step back, take a break, and recharge. Still, it sometimes helps to remind myself what I’ve been lucky enough to do:
- Traveled to some amazing places ✈️
- Surfed in Tamarindo, Costa Rica 🏄♂️ 🇨🇷
- Communed with the Redwoods in Woodside, CA 🌳 🍄
- Snorkeled in St. Lucia 🤿 🇱🇨
- Snowboarded in Big Sky, MT and Park City, UT 🏂
- Sunburned in Grayton Beach, FL 🥵
- Played in an Ice Hockey tournament in Athens, GA 🥅
- Watched 15 win a lacrosse tournament in Asheville, NC 🥍
- Competed in 2 wacky canoe races at RDC on Squam Lake in NH 🛶
- Proved that this Dad Bod still has it 🏒 🏃♂️
- Won an AAHL elite A championship with The Crustaceans
- Joined a 2nd ice hockey team, Soylent Green, in the O35 division
- Ran the Peachtree 10k
- Passed on valuable life skills to my progeny 🏀 🚗
- Coached 10 in basketball
- Taught (teaching) 15 how to drive
- Schooled them all in Monopoly
- Became an amateur naturalist 🌳 🍄
- Completed an online tree course, and starting on a mushroom course. Can name almost every tree along a 1/2 mile trail in my backyard.
- Documented some nature finds on Instagram and iNaturalist
- Raised over $20,000 for JDRF 💰
- Gave a keynote address at a media conference in Phoenix, Arizona 🎤
- Escaped into new realms of Sci-fi and Fantasy 📚
- Read voraciously (24 books so far in 2023). Red Rising series probably my favorite so far, though the Stormlight Archives series is also tremendous. Started Infinite Jest this week.
- Rewatched the entire Game of Thrones series, and a few others
- Got a tattoo ☀️🌿
- Rebuilt our family budget file: including an integrated financial model with income statement, balance sheet, statement of cash flows, and depreciation roll-forwards, going back 15 years, along with forward-looking analyses on retirement, college savings, taxes and more 🤓
There has also been plenty of soul-searching, grieving for my father (who died in May 2022), car-pooling, drinking excellent bourbon , taking the dogs on walks, purging unneeded possessions, reconnecting with old friends, and messing around with Chat GPT. Oh, and yes, many job interviews and networking conversations. I’ve turned down a few opportunities to consult, or move internationally; and some of the jobs I’ve wanted were pulled, are waiting for funding, or went to some other schmuck.
I am confident that the right thing will come along soon.