Staycations

I just used a week of holiday to go nowhere … To do nothing.  That was hard for my brain to wrap itself around. 

I had used holiday time for packing and moving but hadn’t booked any real time off.  I usually take a week to visit family - but after week after week of migraines, not feeling rested and record high humidity, the idea of travelling anywhere - felt exhausting. 

So, I went nowhere.  

I had two non-negotiables for each day - get outside and read.  

My thinking being - I didn’t want the week to come and go and not feel recharged or rested.  I also didn’t want to be over scheduled and/or over committed. 

The point was to do things I enjoyed, relax and let myself let go of anything I needed to let go of.

So what did I do?  

I had lunch with two of my bebe’s, tea with a new neighbour, coffee and dinner with friends.  I walked, I read, I spent time on the water, I played with another bebe … While I’m inconsistent, I can, periodically, still spiral a football … This makes me inexplicably proud and fills me with a crazy amount of joy.  My bebe?  Well, she’s a quarter back in the making and the joy that was all over her face … Well, it’s what makes play fun!

I took time for myself … which was nice and utterly worth it. 

I was still up early, but I didn’t rush through my morning routines, I eased into them.  I added to them, not in a way that scales or can be maintained while I’m back at work, but in ways that let me slow down, recharge and let go of the chaos that’s been the last month or so.  

It was a balance of spending time with friends and spending time with me.  I like my company and am perfectly content to spend time alone.  Which is both healthy and unhealthy.  I can very easily hermit … Disconnect from the world around me.  

Healthy - well, I like myself and I like my company and I’m not reliant on others to make me feel whole or fulfilled. 

Unhealthy - well others bring differing views, allow for thought provoking conversations, they challenge me, open me up to new ideas, concepts, shed light on bias and areas I’m stuck or limiting my thinking based on what I know.  Others help me grow.  They also allow for connection, laughter, those moments over lunch, dinner, coffee, throwing a football or playing in the water.  

While I could easily slip into hermit mode - and feel content - it’s the balance between time with myself and the time with others that make me feel full, make me whole. It’s easy to lose sight of that - look one way or the other and miss the bigger picture, forget the grey.  

I enjoyed my staycation.  It was the perfect mix - for me - of all the things.  The reminders I needed to find my flow … To close my eyes and enjoy the moments. 

I left my phone inside - not the entire time, I do like a soundtrack (read I love a soundtrack).  I didn’t take an insane number of photos - I took some, I love photos.  I didn’t let the need to take photos overshadow being present, being in the moment.  That was new.

It felt like a long time since I had just been.  

During my week off - I didn’t feel disconnected.  I’d forgotten how that felt, partly because my brain slowed down … wasn’t making lists or worried about what needed to happen or what I should be doing or if I was doing it right or how I could be doing it better. 

It slowed down.  It was quiet. It just let me be.  

Staycations really are underrated … Not that I’ll give up travel - ever - but I see the value in taking time to just … stay.