Most of the time when I take a vacation I travel. It is quite rare I spend it at home, but that’s exactly what I did last week. And it was glorious!
I wanted to write down some guidelines for myself if I decide to do it again and I thought it might be useful for others.
- Turn off alarm clock. Sleep as long as your body requests to recover from a sleep deficit.
- Take long walks, ideally in nature, but city parks will do too.
- Do things that make you happy. Check-in with yourself, what is that you really want to do right now, and then go do it. (For me that was leisurely reading a book with a cup of tea in my hand, wandering around bookstores, following random curiosities).
- Forget about your TODO list. No peeking allowed. You can write down *ideas* of what you would like to do as they come to you, but make sure it doesn’t become a todo list that you feel obliged to get done. No prioritization allowed.
- If possible, no commitments to other people that you don’t want to make (though I am an introvert, extroverted people may want to spend all their time with people whose presence makes them happy).
- Reduce stress – for me it was deciding that I am not obliged to answer email for a week.
- Meditate daily, even if it’s just 10 minutes (I use Calm app).
- Do self-care (get a massage, do manicure/pedicure, or go to a spa).
- Eat slightly healthier than you normally do.
- If you normally read stuff on the phone the minute you wake, kick this habit. My worst offender was Facebook so I set a rule for myself to not browse Facebook until noon.
After a week of this my energy reserves were recharged. I felt calmer. My attention span was longer and I wasn’t as easily distracted by Facebook or news. I was (and still am) content and happy.