Isn’t the internet great?  Isn’t it cool having Blackberries and iPhones and being able to get any and/or all information anywhere and everywhere all the time? 

Maybe.  But at a cost.  Never mind the loss of free time and thought and spirit. 

$900 billion.  Annual cost to the U.S. economy – in lower productivity and throttled innovation  — in organizations of all shapes and sizes caused by information overload.

According to the research, the REAL cost is even more outrageous:  Nearly a trillion dollars! 

‘Nuff said. 

Where can you find pleasure

Search the world for treasure

Learn science technology

Where can you begin to make your dreams all come true

On the land or on the sea

Where can you learn to fly

Play in sports and skin dive

Study oceanography

Sign of for the big band

Or sit in the grandstand

When your team and others meet

–From “In the Navy” by the Village People

In this provocative NYT article, David Brooks dives deep into the notion that genes and IQs and things determine profound success, and convinincingly argues that nothing beats good, old-fashioned practice.  That’s not only how musicians get to Carnegie Hall, it’s also what made Mozart and Tiger Woods great. 

As Brooks states,

The mind is sloppy and will settle for good enough.  By practicing slowly, by breaking skills into tiny parts and repeating, the strenuous student forces the brain to internalize a better pattern of performance.” 

He recommends two “enjoyable” new books:  “The Talent Code” by Daniel Coyle, and “Talent Is Overrated” by Geoff Colvin. 

For any of us who feel in a slump, a little background reading on perseverance may in order.  After all, nobody golfs par or launches a new idea without hard work along the way.  At some point, it’s probably even pleasureable.  Bet the pay-off is! 

To stretch the idea a bit further, nobody gets a sabbatical without persistence and patience either.  Gosh, even a week vacation takes ample planning and some sacrifice.  So, if you want a BreakAway, start rehearsing now.  Try weekend escapes.  Serve up (media-free) Sunday Supper.  Sneak away and chill 20 minutes every afternoon. 

Practice may not make perfect.  But it may get you to your desired destination in life.  

Financial writer Kara McGuire hits “Pay Dirt” (her column name) with this article, “Put a Squeeze on your Financial Stress.”  We hear same-old suggestions a lot, but here Paymar seeks fresh ideas from a three wise folk whose area of expertise usually is not money.  They are:

• Barbara Murphy, a Buddhist priest
• Rebecca Thomley, a clinical psychologist
• Michelle Burns, a life coach

There’s so much more to life than money—and so much more to these tips than tactical money-management stuff.  If financial worries have got you down, take a gander…  

Gretchen Rubin is generating quite the buzz with her “Happiness Project.”  And in this HuffPost blogpost, she asserts that reliving happy memories from the past is one small secret that happy people share.  I so agree.  And remind you that taking a BreakAway is a sure way to ensure that your past is packed with joyful experiences worth revisiting.

Here are a few Rubin blog quotes + a comment…

Philosophers and scientists agree: if there is one element that is the key to happiness, it’s having strong relationships with other people.” 

• True that, and going somewhere new allows you to meet all kinds of new people—and cut straight to honest chat; how cool to have friends from all over the world. 

Remembering happy times in the past is a great way to boost happiness in the present.” 

• Life can become a busy grind and the days can blur; just stepping away from the grindstone makes those times stand out. 

I keep a one-sentence journal.” 

• Indeed, one essential Sabbatical Suggestion is to log your BreakAway.  You pay better attention, and have something to spark the memory.  Why not live that way every day?  

Sure, a BreakAway pushes you into the Here and Now in a way that the daily routine can’t match.  But when it’s over—and you’ve had to go home again—you remember that day surfing the wave, baking the bread, or hiking the mountain forever.  Those things change you, and the rich reminiscences only appreciate over time.  And that’s a happy thought indeed.

It’s my sense that families have been taking “staycations” for years.  But these days, with folks trying to cut back on spending, the idea is generating all kinds of buzz and steam.  In this clever memoir from the NY Times, a family tries—and succeeds–at going nowhere.  Yet they do find some bumps in the road less traveled.  To wit: 

• One child wonders—presciently—if the folks will just work all the time, like they do when home.  Guess what?  They kind of do. 
• Mom (the author) admits she works every single day, sometimes for hours.  Yet she seeks balance toward the end by allocating some time blocks as “work” and others “play.” 
• They did, indeed, save money—even though they enjoyed some splurges and agreed not to worry about it. 
• This time, they avoided coming home from the vacation feeling like they need a vacation.  Who doesn’t know that sensation? 

As this story suggests, staycations can be a great BreakAway from work—and from the normal routine.  But you need to plan special outings you normally don’t do, avoid plugging into work too much, and have realistic expectations. 

My advice to this family?  Next year, go somewhere dreamy.  And afterward, have a family meeting to see if one wins by a mile, or if there’s room for both in the future. 

This website, after all, is dedicated to free time of ALL kinds and places.  

Sometimes it takes getting thrown out of the office to notice there is a life outside.” 

For the final Travelog entry, may I present my perfect children.  I took hundreds of pictures of them, but published only a few on this website.  In this technological era of tell-all exhibitionism and voyeurism, some of us still have a place for privacy.  Yet I proudly show off this shot, and share these parting thoughts…

Dear Ones,

What a gift it was to lift you out of your classrooms and let you learn, instead, the lessons of experience.  To sneak you away from your world of scheduled play dates, sports teams, digitalia, and potty-mouthed pop music.  To let you live among new riddims, vistas, and cultures and, best of all, see you jump with joy at the chance.  Literally.  Over and over. 

 Memory is the diary that we all carry about with us.”  Oscar Wilde

Now you will both grow up fast, then grow old gradually.  I know I’ve got MY ideas and dreams for you, like:  Let’s run away again!  Yet I honestly don’t know if we’ll be blessed with another family Sabbatical.  It’s a small miracle we managed this one, and that it went so well.  But oh my, what memories we now “carry about with us.” 

So grow ahead, already.  Grow ahead and get all independent, become skeptical of your parents, and perhaps eventually blame us for everything from zits to arthritis.  No matter what happens, we had this time together.  Just us.  I see now that, on a long list of Missions, this one mattered most. 

This photo, taken on our last full day, confirms that AllBoy has moved on; he has become Young Man. Heck, he’s strong enough to throw me in the pool, hurt me with his tackle, and outride me on the surf. He can run off alone and carry his own.  His raconteur instincts can charm a stranger or a classroom. 

CurlyGirl has grown up too, in so many ways; make way for Little Lady!  The baby teeth have shrunk and the lifetime chompers are emerging—ready to bite into bigger things.  Her speed and coordination are modeling her athletic brother’s.  Playtime drifts from Polly Pockets to Scrabble.  And she now insists on reading to me, rather than vice versa.

Let’s get together and feel alright.”  Bob Marley

In this picture, the two of you together become one shadow—which signifies the connection you deepened, all by yourselves.  (Parents can’t make you do that.)  He’s 11, and she’s 5, so they played up and down or met at 8.  They became best-friend sibs—a secret society with precious privileges that last a lifetime. 

Now, firmly on home soil, they’re suddenly 12 and 6, yet the bond remains robust.  In a world in which people obsess over careers, accomplishments, and self, perhaps the ultimate legacy we can strive for is strong offspring.  No amount of time or energy given to that task—whatever may be the sacrifice—is too much. 

But yes, you can go now. Go to your friend’s house, to a movie, on a date, to play a tournament, to summer camp.  I’ve held you in my arms long enough.  But you’re still welcome there.  Any time. 

With any luck, this BreakAway showed you that—in a way that words can’t.  It also showed you that the world is so much bigger than your backyard, and its horizon is boundless.  So are your possibilities.

But before signing off, may I say “thanks.”  Thanks for agreeing to go; many kids would not.  Thanks for holding my hand during the scary parts.  For romping with me in the sun, sand, and sea.  For reminding me how to laugh and splash and play again. 

Wherever we may go, whatever may become of you, this is how I’ll always see you.

So here:  Take this picture with you.  Let’s keep it as proof of the blessed gift of taking our time—with nary a worry about the future or past—if only now and then. 

I’ll still see this image when you become bigger and smarter than me.  When you leave the house to find your own freedom and fates.  When my heartbeat slows to a stop.  And today, when our dreamy BreakAway has ended and carried us home, where we belong.