Andrew and I just took a month off to relax in a cabin in the woods. We are extremely fortunate to have jobs and lives that allow us to take off this kind of time, because boy did I need it. At the beginning of our trip, I was hoping to get so much done: programming, writing, art, and probably 42 other things. However, once we were settled it, my brain said:
And so we relaxed. We cooked at home:
We hiked almost every day:
We went apple picking:
Went spelunking, which I had never done before:
At the beginning of the month, I felt broken and depressed and it took a few weeks before I felt normal. The day I started feeling like, “Yeah, I’m myself again,” Andrew actually noticed (I hadn’t said anything) and pointed out at dinner that I had started talking about the future for the first time. The third week, I started feeling energetic again. I suddenly wanted to take a pastry class (we’ve been watching a lot of The Great British Baking Show), learn woodworking, pick up sewing again to make a Halloween costume, do a hackathon, and write a cookbook.
It also renewed my appreciation of NYC. As I had gotten burned out, the city had stopped being the “magical city on a hill” that I’ve always seen it as. I missed seeing our friends, but until week #3, I didn’t miss anything about the city itself. However, once my groove started to come back, so did my love for NYC. I couldn’t wait to get back, there’s a bubble tea festival and a documentary at the Film Forum about the NYC library system. And where else could I take classes on French pastry from some of the best chefs in the world, and turn around and have the world’s most extensive collection of fabric stores and access to a real-estate-related hackathon two weeks after I get back? (And, most importantly, nachos delivered to my door in 10 minutes.)
Sitting on the porch, sipping my coffee, and looking out into the woods is very peaceful. I’ll miss that feeling, and Andrew and I agreed that we should do something like this every 3-5 years from now on. But I can’t wait to get back to the city. I need my own kitchen where I’m going to try making some Genoise sponge cake…
Kristina Chodorow's Blog 