I learned…..again….a very valuable lesson today.  I think it is a lesson we all have to relearn from time to time.

This is a lesson from Margaret Roach who had enjoyed an amazingly successful career, first as a New York Times editor, then at that pinnacle of power and connections, as editorial director of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia.  Margaret asks:” “Didn’t you ever want to get up from your desk one day and just walk away, not to go get a latte, but I mean walk away and not come back?”

And that is what she did.  She walked away to find peace and enjoy a quieter, more thoughtful life in her farmhouse in rural New York.  And she wrote a book about it And I Shall Have Some Peace There: Trading the Fast Lane for My Own Dirt Road.

If you’re like me…. caught up in the flurry of a hard charging career….taking a certain pride in the occasional 12 or 16 hour day, it is a stunning thought, to just walk away.  On the other hand, it does rather jolt you back to reality.  How many times have you said: “I’d like to ________ but I just don’t have time.”  You can fill in the blank:  travel, read just for fun, see friends more often.

Although I don’t see myself retreating to a Thoreau like setting such as Walden Pond just yet,  Margaret’s thoughts have definitely made me review my schedule, decide to ax those 16 to 18 hour days, however occasional they might be, and go ahead and book that trip to Spain and Italy my partner and I have been talking about for several years now.

As Margaret says, you have to make time for things you love or time may run out.  I’m not going to let that happen.  You might be inspired by Margaret’s video as well.

Image via Wikipedia

Serentity at Walden Pond