Before I begin I should say that I used to live 100 miles from the ocean. That’s a 2 hour drive.

Essentially that meant I only got to the beach once a month or so. And since the ocean temperatures in New England are so cold, I never went swimming, I only walked the beach.

Now I live 5 blocks from the beach. That’s a 5 minute ride on my bicycle. It takes longer for me to drive my car down to the ocean so I usually just ride my bike.

I go to the beach everyday either in the early morning or at dusk, but it seems that lately rarely do I go to the beach to just to sit with a book to unwind.

You’d think that life at the beach wouldn’t require any means of stress relief but you’d be mistaken. There are livelihoods to create and companies to build. It’s not that there’s no stress here it’s just that the means to distress are easier to incorporate and are closer at hand.



This morning when I took the above photo, I realized that I hadn’t indulged in any downtime for a few weeks. My Pug work and the other things I choose to be involved in and which reside at the periphery of my Pug work, have kept me so busy that I simply just let my “book at the beach” time slide away from me.

As an entrepreneur, generally I work to a schedule, sometimes strictly adhering to it, others times not. This is especially true since moving here to South Florida. But in my written schedule of late I’d forgotten to include playtime – book at the beach time – and I almost wasn’t aware of this oversight.

So today I put it all aside – the writing, the drawing of the new illustration for the new Pug adventure: Pug As Icon For Beach Living, the platform building, the marketing strategies, and the Cooler Email tutorial for the Palm Beach County’s chapter of Surfrider Foundation for which I’m the new Media Coordinator. I put it all aside, got my book, my beach chair, and my bicycle and off I went to the beach for a little R & R.

The funny thing about entrepreneurs is that we never stop working, not really. We’re always thinking about new avenues to explore, new opportunities to seize and new ways to bring our product to a larger audience.

At Pug At The Beach we have an expression: “Is It Pug-able?” meaning can we turn an idea into a viable product; one that will be embraced by the public, one that serves to educate through play, to encourage people to explore lives full of creativity, to enrich our readers on, not just a fun level, but a spiritual one as well. (Play is spiritual but that’s another blog post.)

This question leads to further discussions about numbers, product placement, feasibilities, and, well, it gets dizzying sometimes, so much so that I find myself taking a lead from Pug himself, I do a little beach walking meditation. I read a little. And I write a blog post to encourage folks not to forget about the importance of play in their lives. And even though I’m working, it’s still playing because Pug At The Beach is play.

My wish for you today is that you mark your calendars to include 45 minutes of play time, whatever play looks like for you. Set the alarm on your cell phone and when if goes off, you do the same. Go off to your R & R to restore and rejuvenate yourself. And me? Well, I’ve got to get back to the office and finish that Pug drawing – Pug As Icon For Beach Living, have dinner with a friend, and go to a Surfrider chapter meeting.

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Copyright 2008 Diana Taylor
Photo credit: Diana Taylor Delray Beach, Florida

For cut & paste:
http://www.pugatthebeach.com/aboutcompany.htm
http://www.surfriderpbc.org