Whenever someone asks me if I get tired or bored of working with my own business I give them the honest answer, “Duh, yes!”
We all get bogged down, we all feel uninspired, we all wish that the work would magically get done without us sometimes. For me this tends to happen about twice a year – in the spring and in the fall. The spring funk is mostly rooted in the fact that not so many folks get married in the winter in Oregon. I’ll have spent the previous 3ish months doing back-end work on my webpage, updating print media, meeting with couples for consultations, and the occasional engagement session. The gray skies can make the winter months difficult so by the time March rolls around I’m itchin’ to get back to work, but I’m feeling out of practice and in a funk. The fall freakout is a little bit different and has been with me since college. This one occurs around October and comes with a panicked questioning of everything I’ve ever known! FREAKOUT!!!
Both the funk and the freakout are not terribly helpful, take up a lot of my energy, and have the potential to lead to fear-based decisions. In my last blog post I talked about community, competition, and fear… If you haven’t had the chance to read it, click over there, then come right back.
We all have our ways of recharging, resetting, and realigning – the way I do it is to get the eff outta town! John and I are big fans of Eastern Oregon, high deserts, and being at least one hour away from anyone else… so that’s usually where we end up. If we have the time and don’t mind a barebones campsite we’ll take his motorcycle, but if we want to camp with more comforts or if we’re a little pressed for time we’ll take his truck. In March our friend, Bob, was in Oregon visiting from Santa Fe (we also looooove the South West). He was the one who introduced John to Hart Mountain a few years ago and we were very excited for all three of us to get to go together and be in the quiet. Hart Mt is very special. The 278,000-acre area is a national refuge for pronghorn antelope and other species with a 4,000 ft elevation difference from its highest to lowest point. This trip was focused on taking it easy and just enjoying being the only people out there. Our first night a storm rolled in, dropping the temperature and dumping several inches of snow on us. I was freezing all night… and my new focus was just staying warm.
The next day was amazing!!! The snow eventually melted in the sunny spots and we spent the day exploring a basin farther into the refuge. Tiny flowers were emerging and fresh signs that the animals were out on the prowl all pointed to spring. There were also a lot of arrowhead pieces poking out of the newly bare soil. We explored for hours… I even got a little sunburned. We soaked in the sun while it was up, because we knew another cold night was coming once it went down.
After taking Bob to the airport John and I decided that we really needed some motorcycle time. We quickly unpacked and repacked (our living room looked like a garage sale was happening) our gear and planned an overnight route for the Painted Hills in Central Oregon. Neither of us had been to that area, but we knew it had a great reputation for motorcycle touring as well as breathtaking scenery. We stayed at the Oregon Hotel in Mitchell (not to be confused with Hotel Oregon in McMinville) and had some really tasty burgers at the diner down the street, before turning in early. Apparently the “gas station” across the street from the hotel used to keep a live BEAR in a cage for people to look at. We were up before the sun to get started on our route and ended up needing every inch of daylight to see everything we wanted to see and still make it home in the same day.
I came back fully recharged and ready to hit the ground running… Thanks Oregon!
>>> Photos below from our Painted Hills trip were taken with my iphone.
