Aloha! I’m back in Hawaii again for another 6+ month work project. From now till February-ish I’ll be splitting my time between my home in Virginia, and Honolulu, Hawaii.

Whenever I tell people I have a project in Hawaii I get some form of “Wow, rough life.” as a response. I’m not complaining about being in Hawaii regularly — I love it here — but it’s not all beaches and hanging out with an umbrella-festooned drink in my hand. When I’m in Hawaii I tend to work 60+ hour  weeks. I’m constantly checking and responding to emails, whether it’s at 11pm or 4am. I work nights, I work weekends. Plus I have all my other projects that I manage. So while I’m very fortunate to get to travel to Hawaii for work, it doesn’t mean I’m not working my ass off the entire time I’m here.

Because I work such long hours and am constantly checking in on my projects, it is very easy to get consumed by work. To combat that and keep my sanity I employ a few methods:

I workout. A lot. While in Hawaii I don’t have any obligations other than work and school/poetry. No house to clean, groceries to buy, dog to walk, husband to hang out with. I have friends here of course but work and school/poetry are the only things I truly have to worry about. As a result, I usually do two workouts a day. I start in the morning, with a High Intensity Interval Training (H.I.I.T.) workout and then in the evenings I do an intense yoga sculpt (yoga with weights) workout.

Find Your Strong

Another method I employ for keeping my sanity: I try to appreciate the sunrises and sunsets whenever possible. Sunsets are harder, because I’m often still working or working out, but sunrises I usually see when I finish my workout in the mornings. This glorious sunrise greeted me at 6am last week as I exited the gym.

Good morning

Aloha

Finally, I try to take some time, usually on a Saturday or Sunday morning, and sit down with my book of poetry or my journal and do some writing. This gives me some time to decompress and clear my mind. It also allows me to step away from my phones and laptops for a little bit.

Morning coffee and writing on the beach

These are the methods I employ for staying sane. What do you do?