Last year my family went on a great vacation to Disney World. I was an intern during my college years in the advertising department. 
My family also took multiple vacations there growing up. Needless to say Disney has a special place in my heart, and I was excited to spend time with my husband and kids in a place that holds so many special memories.
I confess I was also pretty proud of this trip. You see my work here on Fleece Fun had paid for a good portion of it. No sponsors, no special media sharing deals. I had just been able to pay for the trip. I know some bloggers might argue that it’s silly of me not to work some deal with a sponsor – but you know what? I like the idea of not owing any of my vacation time to anyone but my family.
But I also felt torn. I mean was I missing a golden opportunity? I could Periscope from the Magic Kingdom. Instagram from the pool. Tweet from EPCOT. It would be a great way to get the attention of future sponsors. But I realized something. Bloggers – like any other worker. NEED TO TAKE A VACATION. We need to put down the phone and be in the moment. We need to not worry about if this is a good time to post and just enjoy watching our kid give a Disney Princess a hug. We need to step away from work to avoid burn out. We need to worry less about getting behind in work and more about getting ahead with our family relationships.
Now if you are able to go on the trip because it’s sponsored… I get it you need to work. But please take a few trips and leave the social media behind. If you don’t post for a few days (or just schedule it out) it’s OK. You’ll come back ready to rock again. So often as bloggers we want people to treat our job/ profession as real. But that starts with us – we need to give ourselves real time off from our real job.
So that’s why this is the first you’ve heard of my fabulous trip. We still talk about it and are planning another with the entire extended family. But I probably won’t talk to you about it until several months later… if I feel like it. 🙂
If you are ready to plan a Disney Vacation my Friends at Get Away Today would love to help you plan it and if you use the code FLEECEFUN you can get an extra $10 off any 2-night or longer Southern California package (hotel and 2 ticket minimum).
Sharlyn says
Bravo!
Cat says
Good for you! We went last December and I worked like crazy in the month or so before so that I could completely unplug for 2 weeks and it was glorious! So I totally agree with you on the sentiment of needing vacations where you can be totally on with your family and not worrying about the missed opportunity of content.