They say that everything that is old is new again. I think that usually refers to things where decades have passed – Birkenstocks, Stranger Things, Luke Perry, everything 90s – but with just a couple years separation The Laid-Off Life is making a comeback.

3 years ago this past weekend, I packed a tiny suitcase for a month away to take some time alone to reflect and come back refreshed. Spain, France and Morocco helped me to clear my head and start to put together a plan for the future. I didn’t realize then that I would spend the next 10 months traveling, exploring at home, enjoying the days, and basically creating a blog of food porn that seemed to resonate with family and friends (and the occasional international stranger). And what I couldn’t possibly have known was that exactly 3 years later I would find myself back on a new version of The Laid-Off Life. Universe, is that you?

It’s hard not to make the joke that I must be the common denominator – 2 jobs, 2 department shut downs? Real common denominator: both departments were new, so they were risky, and they were exciting. Is the lesson here that when you take chances sometimes the universe rewards you? It’s likely that whatever is next for me will be the same sort of new and exciting place or department – I shouldn’t even memorialize this, but for better or worse I believe in the rule of 3s…

3 years ago this was an amazing gift, the best gift I’ve ever received – 10 months paid to live freely and anywhere I wanted, to clear my head, take in culture, take long walks, eat everything, live. This was the best thing I could have done for myself then, and now, after working harder than I ever have before for the past 2 years, I feel like I’ve almost willed this into being for round 2. It might be a case of be careful what you wish for, but I choose to see the gift in it yet again. We all need time to focus on us, to turn our work-brains off and refresh. I guess for me it tends to be all or nothing, but at least the universe knows when to intervene.

So, whats next? At least for the near future I will be a person again and live work-stress free. Food adventures, LA adventures, a lounge chair in Hawaii, lunch specials, happy hours, time in the kitchen, time with friends and new babies, yoga, hikes, two-a-days, museums (read: Insta-opportunities), reading for pleasure, crossword puzzles, jigsaw puzzles, sitting on my favorite rooftop with nowhere to be…and hopefully one great travel adventure before I walk back into the next office. It’s all the stuff I dream of when I’m working…they might be the things you dream of too. There’s just a different mindset when I turn my work-brain off, and I’m looking forward to reconnecting with that side of me again.

Have any activities you recommend – let me know! Want to play hooky one day and come with me – hit me up! Get ready, the fun starts next month. I’m still wrapping my head around it all but eventually it’ll click that I’m living The Laid-Off Life…Again.