I will not be at work today because the sun is out, and so am I

Yesterday the sun came out and the weather was beautiful, Jason had a day off from work and I also decided to take the afternoon off.  We went on one of the East Coast Trail hikes from the Ocean Sciences Centre at Logy Bay, along the Sugarloaf path towards Quidi Vidi.  We had been wanting to do this walk for a while, but whenever we had a day free, the sun would go back to shining upon other, luckier places and the infamous fog would come out in force.  So yesterday, with the sun out there was no time to waste and off we went. 

It turned out to be even more beautiful than I had thought, with dramatic sheer cliff drops to the ocean and paths flowing amongst blueberry and raspberry bushes.  As we stopped by a particularly dramatic lookout spot, with the wind on out faces and the seagulls soaring below us I realized that this was a yoga moment.  We both stood on the rocks facing the ocean and just breathed, I even got Jason to do the large sigh as we released our breath; arms outstretched it felt like we were hanging over the ocean, freeing ourselves and renewing our bodies and I loved it.

This brought me back to my travelling days, days were I would explore and discover new places, and I thought how I would have missed this if I had stayed in my office, a place without a window, a place that will still be there tomorrow and I can still work on my project then. I am interested in how different cultures treat the working day; in England you cannot find anyone in their offices after 3pm on a Friday, in Australia if the surf is good then shops will close and a polite sign on the door will read ‘gone surfing’, in southern Europe during the summer, it is hard to find anything open as everyone takes extended time off, sitting outside and drinking coffee while watching the world go by; while in the Bahamas my family came to visit and my mum remarked ‘does anyone here work?’  

Since spending time in North America, people seem to work a lot more and have a lot less holidays than many other places.  There seems to be a need to keep the work mobile phone on once at home and at the weekend, when does work stop and play begin? 

I think that when it is Sunny in St John’s people should be able to leave a little sign up that says something like ‘I will not be at work today because the sun is out, and so am I’ or perhaps ‘due to my lack of windows with this job, I am going out to see what the sun looks like’ (it could get quite creative!) and maybe another one that says ‘please don’t call me unless the building is falling down’ or something along those lines and then go out hiking, find a rock, a piece of grass, a spot in the park and just hike, or sit soak up the sun, think, and just be.  A lot more work will get done in the long run because you will feel energized and ready.

This evening I am going to another class at the studio and as usual I will be looking forward to it throughout the day, but for the rest of today, I think I may have to take my sign down...just for a little while!