On the heels of Mustang’s Christmas party—complete with a Secret Santa gift exchange, delicious food and truly encouraging speeches from Scott Harris—the immense satisfaction I get from my job has never been so apparent. Christmas parties are a fun excuse to get together with coworkers casually and share that contagious good cheer, and there is also no greater reminder of just how smoothly this well-oiled machine works.
However, it’s also the end of the year—a very successful, interesting and exciting year, but an entire year nonetheless. And before it officially ends, there’s the holiday vacation. The office will close for a week, and so will my work brain. I can already visualize waking up in foggy fragments on a weekday rather than with a jolt from my alarm. The full days I’ll have to myself to run errands, work out, finish last-minute Christmas-related tasks, catch afternoon movies and do whatever it is I feel like doing. The anticipation doesn’t come with anxiety, but a preemptive calm and soothing relaxation.
But we’re not there yet, and as we put to bed various campaign pieces and assignments, it’s important to remember that’s all we’re doing: putting them to bed, not laying them to rest. The year may be over, but my job isn’t—it’s just on a break. A needed one, maybe, but no less temporary because of it. Simply letting the pieces lie isn’t going to cut it for anyone, including my rested 2013 self. Campaigns will get back into full swing, new ones will crop up and rested Mustang employees will be met with rested clients.
The holiday break isn’t a finish line, it’s a check point; an oh-so-welcome breather, but not a right and not the end. It’s a lovely bonus, and one that we must earn by doing our part to make sure that we’ve done all we can so that we can meet 2013—and all that lies before us in its path—as ready as possible. Working hard now won’t make those sleepy mornings any less delightfully groggy or those afternoon movies any less freeing, but it will make them more deserved.
-Danny Bracco, Director of Communications