Normal Service Resumes

The featured image by the way is a sunset taken by myself as we were dining at one of the various restaurants at the resort we have just stayed at. Truly stunning.

Hello all. As you will have been aware, I have been away from the laptop for the last two weeks as my better half and myself were taking a well earned vacation. For those that might be interested we stayed in Lucea, in the north west of Jamaica, at a stunning resort called Grand Palladium Lady Hamilton. I won’t wax lyrical too much about our stay on this post, I might do a quick review of if in my personal column if I get the time. But it really was amazing. Just a few pictures…

15 bars, ten amazing restaurants, 4 private beaches, 3 pools – one of which is the largest fresh water pool on the island. You can see why I didn’t want to come back. In fact we’re thinking of going back for New Years this year, so will have to start selling some windows again.

As many will be able to relate to, I’ve already started to clear the crap from my inbox. I have begun deleting what is mostly spam, it’s amazing how it builds up over what is a relatively short space of time. If you have sent me a genuine email to the DGB account I have now read it and will be posting a reply in the coming days. I’ll also be posting a lot of the PR posts that were sent to me during the two weeks, so be prepared for a lot of sponsored posts hitting you in the next 24 hours.

I haven’t even looked at my other two yet. Hoping it’s nothing major.

I’ve tried to catch up on what I may have missed while I was away. I don’t think anything industry shattering has happened. I see Conservatory Outlet has made their second acquisition, something I’ll looking into a probably post in the coming days, so well done to them. I shall spend the next day or two trying to catch up on the general industry news and see if there is any of it worth posting on here. I also have my own list of posts to get back to.

At our place it does seem to have been immensely busy. So much so we have hired another fitting crew, something which was a surprise to me when I was told. It’s good news of course, means plenty of orders coming in and fitting schedules filling up, nothing wrong with that. I am told that lead levels have been very high, footfall in the showroom high too. Looks like I’ll be needed, as my brother is now off for a week also.

For DGB, it is back to the regular postings. Although the prospect of work is rather unappealing right now, I do feel recharged after two weeks of sun, sea, great food and great drink. I feel the most relaxed in months. It’s amazing what some sunshine will do for you. I will be once again aiming for a post a day, with the June review being one of them in the coming days.

Why R&R is so important

Before I left I published a post where I explained my thoughts on the work-life balance in our industry. You can catch up with that post here.

In the second half of that I gave my opinions on our jobs being just that, jobs. They are the parts of our lives that allow us to live the rest of it. It should not be the thing that ultimately rules us. It’s great to be passionate about it, to be enthused and committed to a career. But for me, it what that career allows you to do and who you do it with which is the most important. That means family, friends and loved ones. These are the most important things in life.

I say this without having any children yet so I guess this feeling will only amplify in time, but with each holiday I take with my fiancee, the special things we do together, the closer we get to our wedding, the more I understand how time away from work is so important. I treasure my holidays with her, which is probably why I feel so crap coming home. I try my best to make the most of our often rare moments on our own. We’re both very busy people and don’t always get the personal time we both wish for. But, when we get our time together, it’s always awesome.

This is why I put so much emphasis now on rest and relaxation. I see it in all walks of life at the moment, people here working themselves into the ground. Stressing about that final email, making one last delivery, fitting in dozens of phone calls, missing lunch, skipping breakfast. And for what? A career, yes. But what good is that if you don’t allow yourself any time to enjoy the rewards of your hard work? By all means work as hard as you can, put in your best effort. But also make time to step away from the desk, put the tape measure down, and enjoy the fruits of your labour. Go on holiday, go to that restaurant you’ve always wanted to go to, have a last minute weekend away, go to a gig, go to a festival. Work to live. You only live once.

I think if we all did that a bit more, and I don’t mean just in the window industry but across the board, we might all feel a little bit better about things.