Once Upon A Time, I Had a Business...

This story isn't a fairytale...this story is real. 

I own a travel business. Since 2012. It's not going well right now, thanks to COVID-19 and the related closures, cancellations, and restrictions. 

Lots of businesses are going under, and lots of those are travel-related. I honestly can't count the number of cruise line and tour company staff members that have been furloughed or laid off altogether. It's awful out there. 

Travel business/businesses going under isn't about "people may travel later" or "people can't travel right now" or "things will get better."

When it's YOUR BUSINESS and it starts to go under, it's mostly about this: you spent 8+ years of your life on this. You learned. You trained. You networked. You invested (time and money.) You built it from literally nothing into something. Something tangible. Something moderately profitable. Something you are proud of. 

To lose ALL OF THAT in the course of 5 months is - to put it plainly - devastating. Not only are you not making money, but the prospect of any sort of recovery is dim at best. What time you DO spend working now is to try to take care of people who are either cancelling or were cancelled, which in most cases you will not be paid for. Not paid for the work you did - not paid for the work you are still doing. 

It feels like building a house from scratch and then watching it burn down. It feels like failure, like losing a battle, like lost and wasted time and effort.

It's not just business - it's personal. It's personal to me, and it's personal to the tens of dozens of amazing, hard-working people I know in the industry.

"We Were On A Break!!!" - Ross Geller

Dear Facebook,
(And by association, the people posting on it...)

I've spent the last few days trying to figure out how to approach this.  I know this won't be easy, but...we need to talk.

We've been together for a long time now, and that's part of why this is so hard. In the beginning, spending time with you was so fun.  Hours filled with funny stories, screenshots of your "digital farm", Ice Bucket Challenge videos, pictures of your kids, silly quizzes, and stories about your vacations. I looked forward to spending time with you, and enjoyed it.

In recent months, though, you have changed.  Gone are the light-weighted funny memes and stories.  It's no longer as much "social" as it is "media."  My time with you is now filled with media/news that can't/won't be confirmed, ugly stories, insults, and cowardly attacks.  I used to look forward to seeing you, but now?  I dread it.  I find myself feeling hurt, angry, and depressed almost every time we are together, and it has to stop.  This relationship has gone toxic, and for my own well-being I need to make a change.

WE NEED TO TAKE A BREAK.  I don't think it's forever, but it's going to be for awhile. If you need to reach me, please use email or text, as I will most likely not see any messages you send me here. I'll still be hanging with my Friends Instagram and TikTok, and I may start updating my blog a little more frequently.

In the meantime, I am hopeful we can be back together soon, and that things will be better for us then.