Before I tell you about my most recent vacation, let me tell you a bit about myself. According to the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, I am an Introverted, Intuitive, Thinking, Judging (INTJ) person. Being logical, methodical, and conceptual makes me ideally suited for my profession as a computer programmer, which is a suggested career for the INTJ personality type.
Since the pandemic lockdown started six months ago, I have been spending most days continuously at home on my computer doing coding, analysis, system testing, mentoring, or attending meetings in this new virtual work world. No more breaks for water cooler gossip or work kitchen chats. No long commute to psych myself up at the beginning of the day or wind down at the end.
By the summer, I badly needed a vacation break. As usual, in keeping with my scheduled, systematic nature and the list-making preferences of my personality type, I wrote down all of the things I wanted to do on my time off.
This summer, at the top of my list, was a family get-away vacation to a cottage on Otter Lake in Quebec. With limited travel allowed between provinces this year, we booked it ahead, sight unseen, with very few pictures. It was a risk, but in the end, it was a beautiful peaceful, waterfront location about a half-mile from the main road. We had rented it for two weeks at the end of July. It was gorgeous weather and very relaxing.
Otter Lake view from our cottage
Another thing on my list of things to do on my vacation was to give my daughter some practice driving. She just passed the written test at the beginning of the year and driving school classes and in-car lessons immediately shut down in mid-March.
It was very awkward being in the car with her over the summer. As a teenager, she was sure everything I told her was wrong. Ultimately, we made it through driving sessions and online practice tests together. It was a valuable bonding experience.
My daughter at the wheel
My vacation to-do list would not have been complete without having a computer-related item on it somewhere. With no end in sight for remote programming work, I took some time to set up my own separate home office space with a desk, monitor, new chair, and treadmill.
I faced my desk to the window, put up a bird feeder, and found I had some work-at-home buddies. My cat, Oreo, loves to lie on my desk and look out the window, watching the birds eat. Of course, once I had my new office in place, I also had to take a sneak peek at the work emails I was getting during vacation.
Oreo on my desk and the Finches on the bird feeder
In the end, I did not get everything on my vacation list done, but overall, it was a relaxing, successful, semi-productive time off.
Have you looked at where you fall on the Myers-Briggs scale?
It may surprise you to see that your career choices, as well as your list-making tendencies, correspond to your personality type.