I am lucky enough to work for a company that allows for Personal Time Off (PTO), which creates about a week off from work as a vacation. As a work-a-holic, vacation time is something I find that must include activities and projects. Yet, I know, I must treat my vacation as, well, a vacation. So, I do my best not to schedule too many things before my vacation. I love the idea of waking up during my vacation, and deciding what to do, the day off. Makes being spontaneous fantastic.

As someone with a mental illness and a recovering drug and alcohol addict, activities and projects creative a positive outlet for me. This encourages a healthy experience and thus rewarding for someone like me. Last year, I spent my vacation time completing paintings at an artist residency in Summerville, South Carolina. It was a great time. Yet, speaking to a friend of mine after my artist residence, she said, “Rolf, you really didn’t stop WORKING,” LOL. It was true. The artist residency was extremely rewarding experience. But it was very exhausting. Was this a vacation?

This year, as my time off from work approached, I knew I needed to focus on how to spend that time. A few weeks before vacation time, I made a long list of things I wanted to do. When I mention this to my therapist, he said, “Rolf, says like you are going to be WORKING on your vacation time,” LOL. Once again, I had the idea or ideas that I needed to be doing something with my time off from work. Like, I was working when I didn’t need to work? Strange. My entire thought process about vacation time was really fucked up LOL. On my final day of work before my vacation, I threw away my list, signed my timesheet for the week, and hide my work badge from myself. I AM ON VACATION!

Monday morning, my first day of vacation I opened up the garage door, noticed the day was a bit cloudy and windy but no rain. I drank some coffee and looked at my Moto Morini. “Let’s go for a ride” I said to myself. It was 10am. I was not in the office. I fired up my Moto Morini motorcycle. I packed my bag with a few items. And rode towards Edisto Island. Thus, my vacation week began with a ride, and I am happy to say, I ended my vacation with a ride. And I rode everywhere. In heavy rush hour traffic. I did as many errands as possible on my motorcycle. And really, just explored as much as I could. I also, did some maintenance on my bike, added a light, and overall, just bonded more with my machine as possible. The art of motorcycling is really a lifestyle. I made it a point of stopping and enjoying the beauty of the Lowcountry. Yet, you don’t need a motorcycle to do this. It is just a better experience on a motorcycle 8)

Rolf