Recently, my husband and I took a weeklong road trip to Canada, to celebrate the end of a long, full spring season (at work and at home) and so I could take a break between jobs. We had a glorious time, and I promise I’ll tell you more about it soon. But I’ve been thinking about how I also loved having a few quiet days at home after we came back. My husband headed straight back to work on Monday morning, but I had a couple of days to sleep in, catch up on laundry and putter around the house. I had some margin.
I started my new job at the Harvard Kennedy School last week, and I am thrilled to be back among colleagues I already know, at a place I already love. I’m easing in, with a couple of days at work, a long weekend for the 4th of July, and a short workweek this week. And I am so happy about it – not just because it’s summer and things are therefore a little slower, but because it gives me some margin. Some room. Some breathing space.
I’m a classic type-A overachiever, and I live and work in a culture that prizes hustle. When the occasion calls for it, I can hit the ground running and keep up a hectic pace, for days or weeks on end. That’s what I did during my temp gig at the central Harvard Public Affairs office this spring. Commencement season around there is a maelstrom, and I was right in the thick of it.
But that’s not how I like to operate. When I can get it, I prefer a little margin.
This spring, I jumped straight from one temp gig to another with only a weekend in between. After our lovely weekend on Martha’s Vineyard, it was full speed ahead at work for the entire month of May, while still trying to figure out my next step. And although early June was quieter, it involved a lot of tying up loose ends and handing over tasks and projects to my replacement, before I took my vacation. I haven’t had a lot of margin lately.
I’ve been doing my best to snatch breathing room where I can get it: solo lunch breaks with a sandwich and a book, a quiet evening at home with dishes and a podcast or another book (or three), and in rare cases, half an hour scribbling in my journal after my husband goes to bed. But I’m looking forward to a little more margin in my life this summer. There’s still a lot of change and adjustment ahead on the horizon, but I am hoping for more space – physical and mental – during these long, sunlit days.
Do you find that margin is necessary in your life? How do you make sure you get it?
cakes, tea and dreams 
This is so perfect for today. I finally created some margin in June, and I feel like I’m fighting a battle to keep it. Summer should be laid back, right?!!
Yes! And it can be hard to keep margin, once you’ve found it.
As always, your post is so familiar yet gives us pause to think and reflect. I have given this much thought as well but have not defined it as “margin” I like that. I live in the city now, but when I grew up in the country we had a natural rhythm to life dictated by the seasons and nature. It wasn’t a farm but a house with 60 acres of land we rented out and a big garden with several rows of raspberries. There were times of great production and there were quiet times of lazy, summer days and snowy days when travel was more limited. The technology we have today is wonderful but it barely gives us a chance to pause and just be still and be quiet. I think we need to have seasons in our life too. We seem to feel compelled to be in an internal Spring of growth and production and we don’t have the times of Winter when our life can slow down and “hibernate” a bit to give us some time to reflect and rest. Thanks again for a wonderful post.
“An internal spring” – yes, I agree. It’s impossible to keep up that pace all the time! Thanks for your words, Betty.
Actually I think I meant to say “eternal” rather than “Internal” but “internal” is interesting too. Ceaseless or enduring would have been a good choice (fun to look up word meanings). Have a lovely day.
[…] A lovely blogger helped me frame my thoughts of the last several weeks of silence on my own blog. I simply just needed margin. […]
[…] up over these last two days in the office – and then I’m looking forward to having some time on the margins, as my friend Katie recently mused about. Of course, we’ll be busy closing things out here, […]