Vacation … does anyone really know what that word means? I’ve got the travel part down, but this whole notion of “extended period of recreation” is unheard of. Until this week, it had been years since I had a real vacation. As you’re reading this blog, you might be like, “WTF?!? You obviously took time to work on this post. Somebody still doesn’t know the meaning of vacation.” And you’re right. Sort of. Maybe, in a way. But first, allow me to talk about how the definition of vacation changes when you work remotely – especially if you’re a 1099 employee (independent contractor) like myself.

Working full time while traveling is not a vacation. Got it? Great. Glad we’re clear on that because I work on the go A LOT. Like I’ve pointed out before, being able to work on the go is one of the major perks of working remotely, but this doesn’t mean my life is one great vacation after another. A few weeks ago I started to feel burnt out, so I quickly started making arrangements for taking some time to myself.

In a perfect world, everything work related would come to a halt when we’re off on vacation. Alas, this world is very far from perfect. Being a 1099 employee, there is no paid time off nor is there overtime for getting ahead and/or playing catch-up. So what are my options in prepping my workload for taking a legitimate break?

Well, interrupting my finances by skipping out on a week or so of income isn’t really an option for me. I simply had to come to terms with vacation being redefined as a period of reduced work hours where work takes a backseat to rest and relaxation, but isn’t completely out of the picture. I streamlined my projects so that the hardest, most time consuming aspects were taken care of, leaving me with a less intensive workload. My meetings have been postponed, daily alarms that outline my workday are turned off, and lines of communication on which I can be reached are limited. I’m only a couple of days into my vacation, but I must say it’s going very well, even with all it’s compromises. I’d love to embellish more, but then we’d be cutting into my ‘me’ time.