My Birthday Getaway (Part 1 of 3) – Escape from Reality

Did you ever come to a point when you are overly stress and that the only thing you wanted to do is to vanish?  Well not literally vanish and it requires an extra super power anyway.  So let me just say that I wanted to temporarily disappear.  And that’s what I did some few years back during my birthday.

I was so burnt out and overly stressed back then juggling from a double job, wife hood and mother hood.  Well the double job was not intentional.  I was quitting from an old job and was planning to be a full time mother and wife.  However while I’m in the process of resigning from my long time job, an online/‘Work From Home” (WFH) job offer came.  I grabbed the opportunity because I was thinking then that I might get bored with the sudden resignation from regular job.

But things did not work the way I expected.  My company could not find a suitable replacement for my position resulting to my resignation taking longer than usual.  Not only longer but the longest I should say. What happened was that I’m still reporting to my supposed-to-be-ex-job while working online plus wife hood and motherhood and they are all FULL TIME!   Back then if you ask me what was the date I will not be able to provide you the the correct answer.  Aside that I am working 24/7, I am also working in different time zones – Manila time and the US/Canada time. When somebody wakes me up and tells me the time, I would automatically asked “AM or PM?”  Jeez!

I was eating a lot and my sleep was irregularl which are both unhealthy.  My body is not used to such life style.  Prior to that period I was doing regular exercise.  With that kind of load I can’t spare some time for fitness activities.  In just a short period of time I gained weight.  I am a picture perfect example of a burnt out person.

And because I was so caught up with my hectic schedule I also avoid going out for fun. When my birthday month came, my husband kept asking me “What is your plan on your birthday, our friends are asking?”  My answer was always “Dunno”.  The truth was that I  really don’t feel like celebrating during that time.  I don’t feel like I can entertain people and I also don’t feel like being entertained.  It was like if you ask me what birthday gift I want to have my answer would be rest, sleep, peace and the likes.  You can not blame me for feeling that way.  I have two mobile phones from two different providers which are ringing like 24/7 for my office job then I’m online at home 24/7.  Though my WFH job is for 8 hours a day only.  I was on a flexible schedule and being online 24/7 is helpful to my kind of job.  The consequence is that I also feels like I’m talking to people 24/7 be it on phone or online.  And the worst part is that I am working at home where I'm supposed to be resting and relaxing.  During that time the idea of home visitors is not very pleasing to me because it's either that they will catch me on work time or rest time.  And I don't want to be disturbed on both times.

Now did I mention that I have LOTS of friends?  Friends that are so thoughtful and sweet to the point that they show up to our door step on my birthday with or without a party (or invitation lol).  Sometimes some are just dropping by to simply greet me or surprise me.  Some just to drop off a gift and some are to ambush me to an instant party that you can not say no!   That is apart from the SMS and calls, online and social media greetings.

Then one Saturday that hubby was looking on a calendar near the dining table where I was eating in a zombie-like-mode (lol), he pointed to me that day after tomorrow is already my birthday.  It falls on a Monday (Sunday in US/Canada).  Hubby suggested that if I really want to have a break and a HUGE peace of mind we should go out of town. That would be his gift to me.  I automatically said yes then followed by my usual “what about the kids they have school?” What about the reservation?  What about my works and your work?  In which he automatically said “Relax, we have the Sunday to work things out.” And he asked me if I want to leave on Sunday night or early Monday morning.  I chose Sunday night thinking that when I wake up on my birthday I am already away from my overly stress world.  That’s how desperate I was to have a temporary peace of mind.

Leaving on Sunday night did not work.  Let me see if I can share the reason on the next two parts.  Early Monday morning, 15th of March my birthday, we put on our back pack and head out to an unplanned road trip.  Our goal is to wherever our back packs will bring us to.  One thing that my husband made sure of before I close my back pack is that MY LAPTOP IS NOT COMING ALONG ON THIS TRIP!

First stop – THANKSGIVING.

St. Joseph Parish Church/Las Piñas Bamboo Organ Church

  Want to guess where our back pack brought us?

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For the complete series of this posts you may want t check:

•  My Birthday Getaway (Part 2 of 3) - Back Packing

• My Birthday Getaway (Part 3 of 3) - Overnight and Swimming