I used to live the corporate life. Sure, there is nothing really stunning about that fact, hundreds of thousands of people live the same life on a daily basis without much incident. And although I am not the first, nor will I be the last … I have left the world of corporate living and ventured off on my own form of “making a living”.

I was suddenly reminded of this fact recently when my wrist watch started to beep at 3 pm while I was sitting at a lunch shack, in what can only slightly hinted to as the “downtown” center of a tiny surf village. The fact that I was wearing this wrist watch for the first time in many months cetainly contributed to the surprise, but the ever present reminder of what was my old schedule and lifestyle was more of a shocker.

It rocked me out of my pot surf high, while absent-mindedly fingering through a basket of grilled fish and fries. The 3 pm alarm was an old programmed reminder to my ever-so-busy-self … no matter what task or items I was busily working on … to get up from my desk or computer screen, and spend a few minutes walking around the building, to refresh my spine, rest my eyes, and get my blood flowing again. I am aware of many other professionals out there who do very similar mental and physical checks during their work day, and it always has been a sound practice to remind one of certain “get-aways” on a regular basis.

However, one should not have to remind one’s self of these breaks and get-aways if we were not so out of touch with our own minds and bodies to begin with. Without any special tools or instruments, your mind tells you that it’s tired, your body tells you that it’s out of shape or exhausted, your entire spirit tells you when your tank is empty and needs a refilling. All you have to do is listen.

As we push work hours to 10 and 15 hours a day, and as far flung as 51 weeks in a row … we find other ways to try and cope: tired and exhaustion is fuelled by caffeine and energy drinks, out of shape is repaired with weight loss pills and sketchy diets, and an empty spiritual buckets go on unfilled and echo silently in the vast darkness. A-hem … Don’t get me wrong, I was enamoured with the corporate life while I was living it … the perks, the money, the lifestyle, and the pace. I loved it all. I will certainly not speak ill of a career & lifestyle that provided me with so much opportunity to see the world, and let me experience much growth. I adored every success, as well as every failure! Every minute of the corporate life I led was a chance to grow and progress … even the horrific human resources witch hunts & tribulations, the unending spider web of office politics and gossip, and the ever-present hand of passive aggression.

From it all I learned so much, and grew as a person with leaps and bounds; through the mistakes and successes, I grew as a human being. I am, simply said, in a different stage of my growth … in search of a different life. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some soul searching to do in the water!

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