A week in the fjords, and why real time off matters

Last summer I took a full week off for the first time in years. No laptop, almost no phone signal, and a small cabin above a fjord in Norway. The cover photo is the view from the ridge on the third day, which is roughly when my shoulders finally came down from around my ears.

I'm writing about it now, in the middle of a grey January, because I've noticed how many of us who run health communities never really switch off. We check the reports queue from the sofa. We answer a worried member's message at midnight. We call it a quiet day if nobody posted anything alarming.

What I learned from being properly away

• The communities were fine. The moderation team handled everything, and a couple of them grew into the responsibility in ways they wouldn't have if I'd been hovering.
• It took about four days for my brain to stop drafting replies in my head.
• I came back with more patience, which is the thing a health community needs most from its moderators.

Making it possible

Real time off needs a handover. Before I left, I wrote a one-page note for the team: who decides what, which situations need escalating, and what could safely wait until I got back. I'd recommend that to anyone running a community, whatever its size.

When I got home, the garden had carried on without me too. My neighbour's fuzzy melons had taken over half the fence, which felt like a fair lesson in letting things grow when you step back.

If you moderate here and haven't had a real break in a while, please plan one. The community will still be here, and so will we.