Loving Life Blog

The Swedish language got 30 new words last year 2009, of which 10% relates to vacation… maybe not surprising in a country where the employees are entitled to a minimum of five-weeks paid vacation, usually taken 4 weeks in a row, during the month of July. Right – six or seven weeks is not unusual. You can get your one week ski-trip in too. No worries. And a couple of weeks to Thailand during the holidays to escape the cold darkness.

The word for vacation in Swedish is “semester”. The new words were:

• “hemester” (home-ation or staycation), when you spend your vacation at the home location,
• “svemester” (USation), vacation spent in Sweden (or US), and
• “frimester” (freecation), vacation completely free and disconnected from work via mail, cellphone etc.

I on the on the other hand got what I asked for, “to be flexible in terms of where I work and be able to spend more time in Sweden”.  Doing my best to squeeze in a little vacation too. Speaking with a fellow coach while in Sweden, she said “in America we call that workation“. I am not surpriced.

My experience, workation during a start-up phase in Sweden during the summer, is a recipe for burning the candle in two ends. It is easy to work from there, where ever and when ever. Computer, comviq surf and skype – that’s all I need. Great opportunity to get new clients in Social Media Marketing. There is also so much to catch up on with home, friends and family. The fact that the sun almost never goes down, and up very early, makes you believe that there is so much more time at hand… “It is possible to do it all”.

So the goal for next year is to E-Myth (by @michaelegerber) the business and also having a vacation – why not a Freecation. That should be possible. Maybe not 4 weeks in a row – but one. To start with. If you don’t ask for it, you won’t get it. A little bit of action needed too, to make it happen.

Are you getting what you need to charge your batteries during vacation?

Make sure you do. It not only benefits you, it also benefits everyone around you.

Enjoy,

Johanna