OOO: I was somewhere else making something, sorry
The work-life trapeze (with health balancing in the in-between).
Last week, I set an OOO message to account for my brief absence from work—just five days! My reason? I needed a "brain break" after spending three consecutive months interstate making a film.
Three months collects detritus…
Your car is covered in rotting Jacaranda petals. Seeds have made their way in and around your windscreen wipers so that they no longer work. Even after half a day of cleaning it still needs a professional wash.
You have to attend to overdue appointments with: your GP, dentist, podiatrist, psychiatrist, and therapist (she still hasn’t seen you in the flesh because you’re too busy to make it to her in person, even in your five days off). What’s more, you have new appointments to book: an immunologist & a lung specialist (thanks Melbourne!) and you need to attend to a raft of tests ordered by all these medical professionals.
You feel like Miss Havisham waking from a dream: with 5 x loads of washing to do (and you’re a single person with no kids!) as well as 12 weeks of dust & grime to remove from the floors and surfaces. You also have a new housemate whom you haven’t had a chance to discuss, well, anything, with — and they’ve been living there for five weeks now.
Every family member and friend reaches out when you return to make plans to see you — they, rightly, demand proof of life.
While I was away for work (July 31-October 30 incl.) I did somehow manage to have a work-social life balance. I reconnected with old friends and went to new restaurants and made wonderful new connections. I burned the candle at both ends — from the base up (work) and from the top down (play). But because I was also out of my norms and routines and regulars, and because I was working and playing so hard, I left almost no time for my health. Health being the main cornerstone of life I think it’s fair to say I didn’t have a great work-life balance.
Maybe out-of-office emails have gone out of fashion or maybe no one gives a shit anymore if you’re in the office or out of the office because they know you’re essentially always contactable, but I was contacted at least 10 times by colleagues over the phone and 10 times more via other platforms during my week ‘off’. (What-is-up-with-that?)
Today, one of my team commented “Why does no one talk about this transitionary period, when you’re coming down off making a show/film and you have to reintegrate into society again?” Why indeed? Cause it is fuckin’ weird. Not only do you have to start taking immune supports and supplements (in a quick bid to get your health back), you also have to squeeze in as many mental-health appointments as possible (in a slow bid to get your sanity back), while at the same time reaching out to all your friends who’ve had babies in the time you were somewhere else making something, and yet YOU were shook-up and turned upside down for months on end — only now processing the realisation that the snow has stopped falling. You’re not where you thought you were and you have to venture out into the real world again.
Next time I’ma put “OOO: I’m holed up in a decompression chamber for seven days. DO NOT CONTACT ME.”