Since September, I've been shuttling between Austin, TX and Santa Monica CA. Last month, I added San Francisco to that list. This month I'm adding New York and Denmark, too.

In L.A. & NY I have business meetings which are exciting and interesting. I get to also meet up with friends and family. So I should be excited, right? It's all so jet setter and glamorous. Right?

But the preparation that goes into all of this is tremendous, especially since I don't have a support staff, a travel agent or someone to take over the workload while I'm gone (so I really have to hit deadlines and get things organised beforehand). Because I so often take on trips like these and live my life (seemingly) out of a suitcase, it's always go, go, go and do, do, do.

Last month in the middle of a work trip, I took two and a half days "off" to go to the Ritz Carlton at Half Moon Bay followed by an overnighter in Carmel. It was the first time I slowed down in years. With no internet, no computer, no writing, no mixing but just ocean, firepits, long dinners and lots of cafe's, I remembered what it was like to just be for a bit. But then I came back to San Francisco and it was once again go, go, go.

I love my life and the freedom I have with my work. I love that I am able to be selective about projects I take on and that there always seems to be a choice. I love the face paced world of technology, I love all the waiting on movie sets, I love all the deal making in development, I love writing and painting and preparing for gallery shows. This is why I work on my own but at the same time, the constant pressure of doing and not having a boundary for time off is still something I struggle with.

In the corporate world, I put in my 9-5 day with weekends off and vacation days. I don't have such structure now which is a double edge sword; I love being able to work from 11PM until 7AM but then when I sleep from 8-10AM I sometimes feel guilty or like I should keep going. I tend to work more hours now than I ever did for anyone else. The difference, though, is that at least I work a lot because I'm passionate about what I do and it really often does feel like play to me so I don't mind if I'm putting in 20hrs on a set (ok, sometimes I mind when it's a cold set and craft services runs out of coffee...)

My friend Alicia Paulson, who runs Posie: Rosy Little things, just wrote a wonderful post that mimics how I feel:

I've so often struggled with creating a line between work and play time and haven't, as of yet, figured it out. So perhaps it's just not something to figure out. I'm always a huge talker about how creative people often look for structure to feel "ok" and "secure" about themselves but then often fight it because we're creative and need to invent ways to be that work for us but then feel guilty for it and then look for structure. See the cycle? I hadn't realised I was somehow locked into, it too. With looking for a way to have "acceptable" work time and time off.

So perhaps then, the trick for me at least, is just to acknowledge that the line between work and play will always be blurred and that's OK. After all, I only take on work that I love to do so it's not really that bad a thing to work so much. But to be more in the moment of my work, to take some more time off, and to not just be go, go, go - that's the trick to practice.