There’s a place called Deon’s Lookout on the way to Birdsville (the most western town in Queensland) when you drive from the east.
You can walk around the top of this lookout for 360-degree views of absolute… nothing.
Not an inkling of civilisation as far as the eye can see.
Trees line the empty creeks where water would flow if it ever rained out here. You could see the single lane road disappear in both directions, far into the distance – but not a single vehicle passed the entire time I stood on the lookout.
Most of the roads were gravel but this particular stretch gave us some bitumen reprieve.
Before the trip, many people asked us why the destination was… well, the middle of nowhere. “There’s nothing there!” they said.
That was exactly the point.
Red dirt, brown shrubbery, clear blue skies – and no reception – was all that awaited us.
Preparing to go away from a business for two weeks is a mission in itself. The month leading up to the trip was a stressful, jam-packed ‘no one talk to me I’m busy’ kind of madhouse.
And then suddenly the day came and we were driving down the highway towards our absolute, blissful, nothing.
I had planned to switch off and mentally check out during this trip, which is something I have always struggled with. So I organised my affairs and scheduled my social media posts to continue to happen while I was gone.
Nothing was going to get in the way this time.
I think a combination of limited reception and physically being so far from anyone or anything actually allowed me to do this.
Of course, I checked in occasionally with email and messages, but the further we traveled away from civilisation the easier it was to let go of all those things that were waiting for me on my to-do list back at home.
Everything could wait.
Driving down the dusty country roads, with nothing but the occasional cattle grid, allowed my mind to wander. To let creative ideas come forward I believe allowing our thoughts to wander is critical.
Do you remember the last time you sat in complete silence and simply allowed your mind to drift?
That is what the absolute, blissful, nothing helped me to do.
I love working in my business, and I love my clients. That’s what makes it so hard to switch off from it.
Being ‘on’ constantly is okay in the short term, but if we don’t allow ourselves time to refresh it can be detrimental to our productivity, mental health and physical health in the long run.
Taking myself out of my environment helped me with the complete switch off that I needed.
I am now stepping back into work feeling refreshed and inspired. New ideas are flowing and I’m excited to get back into projects.
I successfully hit the reset button.