Vacation and the Virtual Legal Assistant
Working from home allows me a lot of flexibility in the summer – I work in the mornings and often take the mid-late afternoon off to hit a park with the kids, go on a bike ride or just veg in the swing in the backyard. But working for myself has meant I don’t take a lot of extended time off from working. Last summer I took a week to travel to BC with my husband and kids, but I took my laptop along and spent time on the drive and every day doing some work. I didn’t mind and with a little one who still needed a bit of a nap, it was pretty manageable. This summer though we were extremely fortunate and won a trip to Orlando (thanks again YummyMummyClub!) We were only gone for five business days, but I actually decided to leave the laptop at home and truly take my first full vacation since opening Halo Secretarial up close to three years ago.
I worked extra hours before and after the vacation to make sure I was keeping on top of several projects, and I gave all my current clients plenty of notice, but I still felt bad about taking the time off. It’s definitely one of the biggest struggles in owning a small business – managing your personal needs with your desire to give 110% to your clients. Now, more than a week after returning from Florida (which was awesome by the way) I read a blog post over at Lawyerist about Vacation and realized a benefit of my vacation I hadn’t even considered. While I enjoyed the time away from my computer, I missed my work. I missed the rush of urgent projects and the conversations with colleagues. I guess I’m one of the lucky ones with a career that I truly enjoy and vacation helps me to appreciate just how much I do love what I do. Thank goodness I don’t find myself wishing to be in a car accident to avoid my work (especially since I don’t have to drive to work, lol, not much chance of a car accident on the way upstairs to my office). My work life balance is still not perfect, and some days I wish for a couple of extra hours, but overall, being a virtual legal assistant has been a dream come true – I hope all of my readers, colleagues and clients are able to say the same!