Thirty Days of Thankful - Day 15 - Work Travel

Note: This is day 15 in my series "30 Days of Thankful."

Have you ever seen the movie "Up in the Air" with George Clooney? In the movie, my man George is a consultant who spends the majority of his life in hotels or flying to and from various cities for work. His life is his work and he's aspiring to reach that next level in airline rewards. I travel a lot for work and sometimes I can relate to his character. I'm sitting in La Guardia airport writing this post on my iPhone and I could really be anywhere.

I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy work travel. I do. I've had the opportunity to see cities and places I never would have gone to otherwise. This year alone I've gone to Columbus, Columbia, Missouri, Houston, Buffalo, LA, NYC, Milwaukee, Davenport, Iowa (my favorite place in the whole country, no joke), Baltimore, southern Ohio (twice), and a few of other cities I've probably forgotten. I've enjoyed nearly every trip and have great memories from all of them. But...work travel isn't as sexy as it was to me years ago. Every hotel looks the same. Every airport looks the same. Being away from home so much this year hurt my relationships with my family and friends. I felt like I missed out on life, really. Sure, I was having fun out on the road, but the whole time, I really missed my life here in the CLE.

Maybe it's because of the year I've had or maybe I'm just getting older and wiser but I value the life I have here in Cleveland so much more than I ever have before. I've realized that my job is important, but it's not THE most important thing in my life. Going forward, I don't want to miss parties and life events. I want to spend time with the people I care about. And I'd love to actually travel for fun. I'm so burned out from traveling that I haven't taken a non-wedding related trip since college. And that was a heck of a long time ago.

Hope springs eternal, though. I'm done traveling for the year. I have a good 6 weeks here in the CLE to gather my bearings before I hit the road again. I hope to be in a better frame of mind by then. And as with other areas in my life, I hope to establish some boundaries so I can travel a little but still get to enjoy the life I have back at home.