Six eventful, challenging and exciting weeks are coming to a close. It's Saturday morning, two days left here in the Dominican Republic, before I take the long trip home to Copenhagen, via Miami, New York and London. I'm sitting at the breakfast restaurant at a mountain hotel, with a view on the roaring Jimenoa river right beneath me - and pondering what I have spent the last 6 weeks doing....and the last 8 months...? With the fear of sounding cheap, I'll say I've been around...;-).
It started out with Tokyo and New Zealand - a city vacation and a road trip. Just what I needed at the time, having quit Maersk and wanting some time on my own, just to relax, enjoy, set my own pace.
Next came Fred and Anne-Mette's wedding, then a week in Dubai, then two great weeks in Greece with my family, a week in Switzerland, a weekend in Newcastle with Daniel and his family, then another four wonderful weeks in Switzerland in August. I love Lausanne - it's a beautiful city. Then two weeks of studying in mom's summer house at Mols (very cosy, by the way - will have to remember that !), before another short trip to Lausanne.
And then off to the US and the Dominican Republic; a few days in New York, two weeks working for the Obama campaign in Durham, North Carolina, back to New York and now two weeks here on the island of Hispaniola.
I can't complain, can I ? But what have I actually achieved, what have I done ? Well, I have studied and applied to get into a business school, let's see how that works out. And I have helped make history in the US - even if just a tiny little part of it (I saw the dude himself, up close and almost personal). There's the un-quantifiable, but potentially even more important, part about having had time for myself to think, philosophise, challenge myself creatively and wonder where to go next. And besides that, I have relaxed, enjoyed, experienced and taken a break from working since I was 19.
The negatives may say I'm lazy. I'll say that life is not only about working hard - as long as you don't drift around for the rest of your life. I saw a chance for a mini-retirement (in the words of Timothy Ferriss), and grabbed it - carpe diem, or carpe the opportunity ! But don't look at these months as a reward for good, faithful service to the working community; no, I believe you also achieve something for yourself, when taking time off like this. So, instead of saying that the whole experience is coming to a close, lagging towards the end, I'll rather say that I'm now bursting with ideas, recharged and ready to take on new challenges !
Bring 'em on !
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