(Medium) (Writing)(Poetry) is an Outlet, a Passion, a Commitment, a Community, and a Job

Reflections on Taking a Somewhat Vacation

My family spent the week at Disneyland and Universal Studios. We had many lovely moments. My daughter and I are not rides people, my fiance and his daughters are rides people. What a thing to learn!

So, in conclusion, we spent some time apart, and some time together. I liked the parts where we all sat down, in the shade, eating. And I liked the walking around the smaller, less crowded areas with my daughter, hand in hand.

Emotions are weird. I miss her, I miss the time with her, and she is right here sleeping. I can see her, but I miss her. I had to trade Thanksgiving and Thanksgiving break to be able to be with her now, on Fall Break. And I am grateful for our time together, but as any parent in this high conflict back and forth game where a child is just shifted around knows, wow, Thanksgiving is going to be a bit sadder. But that is a story for another time.

I also loved the time with my Love, seeing him geek out over things like the Transformers ride or whatever it is called, and seeing him sort of take a tiny break from work. Having him 24/7 and not just the usual capitalist lifestyle of see you in the morning, see you after work.

But of course, adult vacation feelings, and Dad vacation feelings, always bring the added worry over how much money did we just spend on a Butterbeer!? Oh, $8 dollars!? Damn.

Aside from the drastic change in routine, aching feet and sore legs, the sun and sunburn, and the crowds, crowds, and crowds, this vacation had the added bonus of making me simultaneously miss and worry about my life on Medium. My family. My community. My job. My poet home.

I missed you guys.

And it hit me, this is a job and a commitment. This is a passion, a creative outlet, and a workplace. This is a community and a family. Really. I missed posting daily, I missed interacting as much as I could from my home office aka my couch.

I missed keeping up with the workplace gossip and seeing everyone’s work as it came out. I missed bouncing from FB group to FB group and saying hi. I also missed deadlines and inspiration for some of those fun Medium assignments we poets give to each other — writing prompts, tagged stories and such.

Things that happened on Medium this week were pretty big. Also, I missed putting out my newsletter. And my Top Writer in Poetry spot fell from 1 to 2. And my poetry felt sort of so-so not OMG amazeballs. But, these things happen. This is life in a virtual workplace and in a virtual community. When we slow down, it does not slow down. It is always all in.

And yes, also, I confess, I did like some of the break in terms of sort of stepping out of the hustle and bustle of read, share, post, read, share post, write, read, write, share, post, repeat over and over again.

Taking a sort of vacation and spending time with family is important. Even when we were cranky about it all, we were together, and this togetherness brought us closer in terms of seeing how we handle differences in experience, differences in preference, and how we communicate our needs to each other.

This being said, how many of you know the feeling of needing a vacation after vacation? We need a week to get to know each other at home, in peace, quiet, calm, and with more couch snuggling, less fast paced walking from attraction to attraction.

Medium is a workplace that is always on — it is always going, globally. And it is always on in our minds and hearts. It can feel like a hamster wheel — gotta go, gotta write, gotta post, gotta share, gotta read, gotta clap. But it also feels like checking in on family, friends, loved ones, coworkers, and also, contributing, giving back, being involved and engaged.

So this is to say that take that vacation, take a break, step back, and know that things might change during that time. This place is fast paced like a theme park, but the crowds are manageable and the engagement and interaction is a bit more calming.

I suppose I am writing this as one of those “if you take a break expect this” but not really — I am just writing it as a “I did this and here is kind of what happened, life is complex” poet ramblings. And also, as usual, this piece is an ode to my Medium family, community, workplace, as it is a home for my passions, creative outlets, and sense of connection to like-minded, like-gifted, like-involved people from around the world.

And also, because that added note — that added depth, of understanding that Medium is an intentional commitment, that more than this, poetry is an intentional commitment, hit me strongly. I feel a sense of sort of honor and duty and drive and desire to write, my best writing, I hope, when I can, and to read, my best calmest, most attention giving, way of reading. Dare I say part of my sense of self is a poet self and a poet who writes on Medium self?

And at the end of the day, at the end of a normal day, or a vacation day, well, isn’t that sort of just lovely?

Jenny Justice is a poet mom who longs to bring poetry to life in ways that spark empathy, connection, joy, and feeling. She loves writing love poems, climate change awareness poems, poems for kids, and of course, poems about poetry and poets. You can follow her on Medium and at Jenny Justice, Writer. You can follow her poetry at Justice Poetic.