nida chowdhry

I’m back from summer hiatus! After working essentially non-stop for a year-and-a-half, I took the summer off.

Much of my life after I graduated back in 2009 has been seasonal. This is something that took me many, many years – essentially until now – to stop feeling bad about and to appreciate. I’ve spent months on end, year-long periods working 60, 80, 90 hours a week, then poof, nothing, laying on my couch wondering what the heck I’m doing with my life. Because I’ve worked for non-profits and/or worked for free so much, I never really felt like I could say I was “taking a break” in this down-time. It would be more of a crash for me to be depressed during.

Well, this year I gifted myself a “summer hiatus.” A mandatory period of non-work. Like, seriously, no work allowed, and that included no “shop talk.”

I’m not mentioning this to invite any comparison. I know people working three jobs, working all-the-time, out of work, and not working by choice and circumstance. I’m sharing this because I don’t want to contribute to the idea that I’m always busy/working. And that I allowed myself to to take a break and not feel bad about it. And it was awesome.

Anyway, I’m back at my desk, but in a new way, after a summer of adventures.

Sincerely,

Nida

P.S. I’ve been feeling uber confined-nervous about posting any of my writing, and just as I had decided not to post this, I saw Kimothy Joy‘s latest Instagram post on a quote from Brene Brown:

Totally.