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Day Off

Back at the beach again for a day and a night, trying to strike balance between availing good weather while it lasts and avoiding the end of summer crowds. It turned out to be just that - somewhere in the middle of two goals each somewhat fulfilled. The tide was high and the waves thick white froth. We watched seagulls fly in formation and sand pipers chase after baby crabs. The rhythm of life around the ocean continued notwithstanding the ebb and flow of crowds. As the weekend drew to a close, the beach started to empty out. A few straggling tents and umbrellas dotted the vast expanse of emptiness. We remained that that night. There is been clamor for more mental health days for people - at work and at schools. 

Taking a Monday off was my equivalent of that. There was no house on fire, nothing too terrible happening at work that I needed escape from it. It is more a death by thousand cuts - it bleeds slow but steady. Purgatory in a person's professional life I think is created when there a balance of good enough money and job satisfaction combined with an very slow descent into a rut. The forces are in such fine balance that it is hard to shake things up and move on. But there is a great sense of emptiness that cannot be defined and refuses to be shaken. So we have people taking a day off to stay home and take naps, go to the beach, visit a friend a town over and so on. A small but essential respite - the kind of thing those birds and crabs likely never require to get on with their lives

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