Today was my last day of full time work. My last day of checking email while still in bed.  Last day of putting in 12 hours of working with clients, composing emails and working on powerpoints.  Time to celebrate with my family, right?

Hah.

In typical fashion, I am celebrating solo with room service in a hotel room with an incredible city view after a long and exhausting business trip. Because the Travel Gods were in a bad mood, the flight home I hoped to take this afternoon didn’t happen. Kind of like the flight out I hoped to take last weekend that didn’t happen either.  I landed a day late, and two appointments short to temperatures below zero with windchill.  Now, I have a free evening, and it’s too cold to go outside and walk around.  When it comes to travel, I just cannot win, and it’s pretty much expected. (For more information on that see my other blog)

In the last several weeks, I haven’t had a lot of time to think – or plan.  This trip has been a whirlwind of activity with speaking gigs, client meetings, preparation, train travel, conference calls and logistics.  Oh, and there must have been a massage at one of the hotel spas thrown in there at some point, because I’m still alive.

Next week, I go to a part time status of 20 hours a week.  My best girlfriends have already given me lectures on how I really need to stick to this.  My husband just smiles and says it will be fun to watch. My working Gal Friday (and Monday-Thursday) without whom I would not have survived the past couple of years, let alone the last week, made a strong point at dinner Tuesday of how I need to not check my email or answer my work phone at any time outside those 20 hours – starting tonight.  She said I could leave it to her.

Yes – it is time.  It was obvious on this trip that she’s more than ready for the challenge ahead of her, and I can now let her spread her wings.  So, I put in a full day today, tied up all the loose ends that would tempt me to turn on my computer on the plane tomorrow, and turned it off.  It will stay off during the whole flight – and may not even be unpacked from my briefcase until Tuesday morning.  My kindle app is loaded with several good books and I’ll have 7 hours of uninterrupted reading time – unheard of bliss only a few days ago. I may even take a nap, if the flight is smooth enough.

Who am I?

I am now Unplugged – Step 3 in my new 12-step program to detox from workaholism.  Even this blog post was composed on my iPad. I’m determined to make this work.

Wish me luck.