life – Page 9 – Britt Skrabanek

What’s wrong with having dreams, anyway?

Nasher Sculpture Center - Dallas, TX — Nasher Sculpture Center – Dallas, TX

When we’re babies, our parents have dreams of grandeur of what we will become. The doctor, the scientist, the celebrity.

When we’re kids, every adult we encounter asks us what we want to be when we grow up. And we answer them with conviction. A cowboy, a ballerina, an alien.

When we’re teens, our teachers prepare us for the future, to figure out which piece of expensive paper will pave the path to a fruitful career. Teach and be poor or business and be rich? Choose wisely.

When we’re adults – thrown into the world of bills, loans, and other hyped up seriousness – our dreams tend to fade. Usually, they disappear altogether.

Yet, sometimes they are revived. Quite suddenly you’re doing the things you loved most when you were a kid…coming full circle. You play music, you paint, you write.

You’re not the suit, you’re not the boss, you’re not the mom, you’re not the bachelor, you’re not the assistant, you’re not the alcoholic, you’re not the divorcee, you’re not the nobody.

You’re just you. And, you’re effing happy about it.

If you’re one of these dream-chasing adults, you’re often out of place. Everyone’s playing make-believe, the adults on one side and the children on the other.

Playing adult is allowed, respectable even.

Playing child isn’t. As a matter of fact, you’re the troublemaker.

I’ve done the day job thing most of my life. Hell, I’m doing it now…Monday-Friday, 9-5.

I play dress up every day just so I can play the board game. Buy, sell, trade. I was never any good at Monopoly. I liked ridiculously colorful games like Twister and Candyland.

For me, playing with the grown ups is just a game of pretend.

I will always be the rumpled employee who gets ready for work in five minutes flat, the grown ass woman sleeping with a stuffed animal, the hopeless case daring to dream because she can’t live any other way.

And, I don’t know why it’s so strange and unusual. I mean…what’s wrong with having dreams, anyway?

So you want to take a media vacay

Often the only time we disconnect from it all is when we go on vacation. And some of us don’t even do that.

You know who you are. During your last tropical getaway, you broadcasted every moment on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram while blogging about all the major highlights.

For those of you out there giving the vacation play-by-play, step away from your computing device and chill.

For those that have the sanity to take a break when you’re supposed to be on a break, I ask you this: Why not do it without the plans and the passport, without the smelly airport and the strip search at security?

Take a media vacay. Seriously.

Recently, I took two whole months off from social media and blogging. I still read emails, used the internet for research, and kept up with my favorite blogs (minus my usual comments and likes).

I was feeling overwhelmed, flailing in a flashy sea of information. You know…life on crack.

Another perfect marriage proposal that was presumably imperfect, aw man…the one that never stops complaining about work, never-ending birthdays of people I barely know, that sad chick battling a cold and showing off her mountain of snot rags…eww, the usual ruffling of political feathers, a picture of somebody’s cute grandma, a popular article on why Splenda is killing people, the guy that thinks he would set the country straight if he were the president, ooh…that looks like a delicious smoothie recipe.

And, cue straitjacket.

So I did the closest thing I could to escaping to a deserted island. And I found something.

Focus. Unadulterated focus.

See that headstand pic up there? I’ve been trying to pull that baby off for a year. During my hiatus, I not only floated up, I stayed until I decided to come down.

This told me all I needed to know. And while your idea of pure focus may not be a headstand, it was for me.

So, I invite you to go find your focus. I made you a little checklist, so you don’t forget anything on your trip.

Pick a time on purpose Finish an important project, decompress after a stressful time, or simply extend the positive effects of a vacation by “staying away” a little longer.
Tell people Let others know, so they don’t think something terrible happened to you (death, divorce, etc.). Bloggers, write a post and embed a countdown on your site to let your readers know what you’re doing, why you’re doing it, and when you’ll return.
Cut yourself off To avoid any accidental relapses, remove convenient social media apps from your smartphone and turn off email notifications. All of them.
Change your routine Cherish the new minutes you’ve added to your life. Commit to that morning meditation finally, see what your spouse and/or kids are up to, play way more with your pets, take a long walk, or simply sit in silence. Enjoy.

Just like any vacation, make it your own.

Fueling the fire is something we humans tend to do. Especially in our techy times, we want to experience everything better and faster.

Just before I signed off for two months, my heart felt heavy as I began to second guess myself. Then, I read one final comment from my great blogger pal Jessica over at Notes of Nomads.

“There is more to life than simply increasing its speed.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi. Stop and smell those roses, Britt. We’ll be waiting for you when you return. x

Then, I smiled and logged out.

P.S. It was one of the best vacations…ever.

What about you guys? Have you ever taken a media vacay? And, those thinking about taking one, are you gonna give it a go or what? : )

Hu…hello? Is there anybody out there?

“Hu…hello?” a small voice echoes into the cyber abyss.

Unbearable seconds pass in the darkest of silence, the kind where there is an endless nothing. Feeling sassy, the voice kicks it up a notch. “Is there anybody OUT THERE…OUT there…out there?”

Well, I freaking hope you guys are out there, because I’M BACK!!!

Two whole months. No blogging. No social media. It’s the modern day equivalent to social suicide, but I promise I’m alive and very, very well.

I’ve gotta say I was feeling some serious pressure with my comeback post. So many of you seemed to think I was doing something on the brink of prolific. Then I realized, in our media driven era, taking a hiatus from the digital presence is sort of prolific.

A lot of you said you couldn’t wait to hear what I would discover while I decompressed. Some of you probably thought I was nuts for taking my writer persona off the grid. Some of you might have some questions like…

BRITT, WERE YOU KINDA LOST?

Totally. The first official day of the hiatus, I came home from my day job and stood in the middle of my kitchen, pouting and absently eating cashews.

BRITT, WERE YOU KINDA LONELY?

Totally. I kept thinking I pissed off everybody in my life, but I couldn’t remember what did it.

BRITT, WERE YOU KINDA LAZY?

Oh, come now! Don’t you know me at all?!

I silently toasted myself for my one year blogiversary, since I couldn’t share it with my usual community of blogger besties. (Cheers, ya’ll!)
Mr. H and I seamlessly made it another year…eight years, actually. We celebrated with our annual high five. (Yay for love!)
I annoyed the holy shit out of my two cats. (I’m sure of it.)
I have been unleashed into the Yoga teaching world after obtaining my 200-hour certification last weekend. (More on that later.)
Lastly, I finished my first draft of book trois, The Bra Game. It looks like shit run over twice, but I’m still proud. (More on that later, too!)

Phew! So yeah, I was a little lost and a little lonely, but I found something previously fleeting in my life. And I’m not gonna tell you what that is until next week’s post when I go into the why and how of taking a media vacay.

Aw, Britt!

I know, I know. I’m a tease.

But today, I simply wanted to poke my head out and say thank you all for standing by me. Your awesome encouragement was very much needed and I missed you all like you wouldn’t believe.

Aw, Britt.

I know, I know. I’m really just a big softy.

So, SERIOUSLY! Is there anybody out there? Give me a shout out down below, so I can “see” your cute faces.

A Bona Fide Blogging (and Social Media) Hiatus

Yep, that pile of Yogi roadkill is me.

It was Sunday night, month seven of ten of my Yoga teacher training adventure. Aphrodite the cat humiliated me further by using my carcass as a doormat.

Philosophical exploration is part of the process of becoming a legitimate Yoga teacher.

A question I’ve been secretly asking myself for several months was asked aloud to the entire group of trainees: “What is the purpose of running around?”

It was dead silent.

Tears welled up in my heavy eyes and I choked down the unattractive sob which tried to escape from the depths of my throat.

Just as I suspected…guilty as charged.

When we run around in circles, we don’t get anywhere. No matter how much determination we muster, no matter how fast we go, we stay in the same unfulfilling place.

Ironically, last week I wrote a post called Stop Farting Around. It was meant to be an inspiring post, encouraging the pursuit of dreams.

However, it revealed something jarring to me.

I’m too busy pursuing, drowning in drunken visions of profound splendor. I try to do it all, and the scary thing is…I can pretty much do it.

Am I at peace? Am I satisfied? I think you know what the answers are here.

I need to prioritize my life for a bit. I allowed myself to choose 3 of the most important things…instead of the usual 764.

LIFE – I need more of it…my magnificent husband Mr. H, my kooky cats, a great book, staring into space, smelling the roses, sleeping in, savoring a ridiculous meal. I want to bathe in all of it.
NOVEL – I’m a novelist first, a blogger second. Those of my fellow writers out there in the same boat know how tricky it is to balance these two wonderful things. I am totally rocking the pants off of my first draft and I shall aim my writerly energy there during my time away.
YOGA – I graduate from teacher training mid-June. Thus far the hefty pile of books, my practice and meditation, and the training weekends have been shoved into every remaining crevice of my free time. These final hours will require my full devotion.

As you can see, blogging didn’t make the list. How in the hell could it compete with all that anyway?

Therefore, I’m taking a hiatus. I know it sounds dramatic, but two months isn’t exactly a break.

Blogging is so incredible and I adore you all – my exquisite readers, my resplendent friends, my outstanding supporters. Nonetheless, when enjoyment morphs into stress and creativity evolves into pressure, it’s time to do something about it.

When I first wrote this post, it was quite laughable.

In fact, it was titled a “half-ass” hiatus rather than a bona fide one. I cooked up this whole scheme where I would still figure out a way to post archives and reblog, but then I owned up to the fact that none of that was the real deal.

To take it a step further, I knew something else had to go during the hiatus…social media. Twitter, Facebook, even good ol’ Goodreads.

In order to keep distractions at bay, all blogging related email notifications and all of my handy dandy Iphone apps will be temporarily suspended.

With all this rediscovered free time, who knows what will happen?

Maybe I’ll finish my first draft. Maybe I’ll have some Yoga teaching gigs in the works.

I know one thing…I’ll have more time to cuddle with Mr. H and the cats. And that, more than anything, is a reason to be ridiculously excited.

I get it. From a marketing standpoint, I’m doing this all wrong. I should have scheduled posts ahead of time and I should have lined up guest bloggers – yada, yada, yada.

Hell, I’m even celebrating my one year blogiversary during the hiatus! I should just wait, and do this later…yeah, that’s a cop-out, too.

From a life standpoint I’m doing this all right, trying something completely out of character. I’m slowing down.

And so the two month countdown begins. See, I even have a countdown thingamajig on the sidebar now.

I will still be around this weekend to reply to comments, share status updates on FB and Twitter, and catch up on some blog reading.

As of Monday, April 22nd, Britt’s going dark for two whole months.

I will do my best to respond to any comments made during the hiatus upon my return in June.

For those bloggers I follow religiously, please know that I will still be reading from my email but will not participate with my usual liking and commenting during the hiatus. I’ll be like one of those silky web stalkers we never hear from, but always seem to know what we’re up to. (Mwah, ha, ha!)

I am going to miss everyone here like crazy. Feel free to shoot me an email via the contact form and say hello.

Thank you all for your continued loveliness. I’ll see you soon.

With much, much love. – Britt

We love, therefore we are.

There have been a lot of emotions burning today, running wild like a forest fire in a vicious drought.

When tragedies happen, we curl our hands into fists as we feel so hard even though we are helpless. And we often don’t know what to do with ourselves.

It is times like these when we must remember to keep our hearts open. Just love, because it is the most important thing we can ever do. If we keep doing this, we win – even when all seems lost.

Stop the anger. Go with the love.

We love, therefore we are.