Since last Wednesday, I’ve been staying at a friend’s cabin North of San Fran in the coastal Redwood forest. The comfortable but spartan cabin has no WiFi, and AT&T apparently doesn’t reach in between the tall Sequoia Sempervirens either.
How’d I do? Surprisingly well.
Now, mind you, we would set aside 15 minutes around noon every day to drive about 1o minutes away to the top of a hill where I would check email.
That’s how I found out about a fairly important job that came my way (of course!…just leave your home studio to get work!) Luckily I satisfied my client by recording in a small utility closet of the cabin among the folding chairs, garbage bags, and toilet paper on my trusty Zoom H6n.
But for the most part, I sat on the deck outside, watching trees sway in the wind, while pulling a blanket over me in the 40-50° temperatures every night. Thankfully, my friend keeps a fireplace out on the deck, and plenty of firewood.
At just 6 miles from the coast, I also found the rhythms of the sea particularly palliative.
And of course, what good would it be to visit some exotic place without stopping by to say hello to a local voice actor? Here’s me with Healdsburg, CA voice-actor and WoVO Treasurer Elizabeth Holmes and Fred Campbell, the guy who built her awesome double-walled isolation booth and the apple of her eye!
Diversions like these are crucial to my sanity.
It’s not the rest (bed was pretty hard at the cabin), nor the friendships shared (although that certainly hits a sweet spot), but mostly the chance to break routine…the routine of too-familiar sights and actions. You can really get in a rut doing what you normally do day-in-and-day-out.
It typically takes me a couple of days to get back in the groove — and whether that’s good or bad is immaterial. The point is, I did it, and I hope you can break away to break monotony once in a while, too. We Americans take our work WAAAY to seriously. It’s what makes us go-getters. I get that. But seriously, once in a while, get out and stretch your legs, and rejuvenate your mind with some new vistas!
‘Great for the soul!
CourVO
