How to take a vacation at home

When plans go awry…

I was really looking forward to going away this summer. I had the tickets booked, the itinerary planned, and the week long beach house visit with my extended family booked. I was all set, and this was in January. Little did I know by May I would be cancelling all of it. Now it’s July and I really need a vacation. I know I have spent a lot of time at home lately, but it has been stressful and difficult to coordinate working and home school and extra stress. There have been amazing moments and days and occasions, but I really want a full-break. We have three kids, and we really enjoy taking vacations with them. We find that it’s incredible family-bonding time, and our kids get along famously when they have no one else to play with but each other.

The importance of "me time"

As a therapist, I always recommend to my clients to take “me time,” and time off. We need to rest. Even God took a day of rest, and most cultures have a Sabbath, a day or rest, whether it’s Friday, Saturday or Sunday. We need this day to recharge and refuel.

But we live in a time where it is really hard to shut off. We have smart phones, and laptops and long distance calling and zoom and google chat and social media, and they all keep us glued to our devices. And this isn’t resting. This is our brain at work. Moreover, it’s our brain at stress. Social media has been a prevailing culprit of stress in the literature for a long time.

We are also living in a time of uncertainty. My husband and I sat down to make new, more modest and local vacation plans. But since the number of people contracting COVID-19 are increasing daily, we decided to look for a place with a very liberal cancellation policy. While, I believe that the cancellation policies available are more than fair, the risk is not in our favor, and we ended up deciding not to book anything. I am grateful that we are young and healthy and have no pre-existing health conditions, and some disposable income, which puts us in the category of people who can contemplate taking a little trip, but still, we are risk adverse, so we are staying home, for now.

But then I thought, if you are stuck at home, is there a way to take a vacation at home? Many of us have been and continue to be stuck at home. I decided to explore how to take a vacation at home, for my benefit and for yours.

What is a vacation, really?

A vacation means shutting off your stress indicators and getting away, so even if you can’t physically get away, then you must find a way to mentally go away. When we are on vacation, we have a new outlook, and we behave differently. We may dress differently; we eat differently and we experience new things. We hopefully ignore social media (until after our trip, when we post our great pictures), we don’t work, and we limit our contact with our usual people and commitments. We put our normal life on hold for a little while and enjoy the silence and maybe even boredom of quiet, uninterrupted time.

How to take a vacation without going anywhere:

Step 1: Plan the vacation. A big part of vacation enjoyment is actually in the planning and the anticipation. So, make a plan now, but make it at least a few days in the future, so you can capitalize on the extra enjoyment of anticipation.

Step 2: Decide what you want to do on your vacation. Do you enjoy sunbathing? Sunbathing can be done on a porch or backyard. Maybe you don’t have a comfortable lounge chair, so order one. Maybe you enjoy reading, but never get a chance. Browse some books and find one or two you’d really enjoy reading. Do you love eating out when you are on vacation? Order in special foods for the designated days. Maybe you really enjoy hiking, or going to the beach and those places exist within a reasonable drive. Plan to do that. Find a hike that looks good. Do all the research ahead of time. Make sure you have the right shoes. Or, pack a beach bag in advance, buy yourself a new bathing suit. Make sure to buy ice coffee or ice cream when you are on the beach, or pack some beer in your cooler. Even if you often go to these places, find a way to make it a little more special. I think the hardest one is if you enjoy meeting new people on vacation. Maybe there are some nice parks or hiking spots you can check out. Please post suggestions for this one.

Step 3: Tell people you are going on vacation. Tell your Boss, and your friends. Set up an automated out-of-the-office email response. Turn off your work phone. Don’t use social media. Shut it all down, just for a little while, and take some time to remember how to think without distractions.

Step 4: “Go on your vacation.” Even if you are sitting in a lounge chair in your backyard, or porch or living room. Relax, read, watch a movie, order take-out, and don’t use social media. Give your mind a chance to recharge. If you are into yoga or meditation, practice that. Sometimes it’s hard to let yourself relax when you have a check-list of chores in your mind, but on vacation, there is nothing pressing to do, so take advantage.

Step 5: After you “get back,” reflect on your vacation. What was great, what didn’t work out. And start planning the next one. Don’t forget to post your pics!

Congratulation! You have just taken a big step towards improving your physical and mental health, and in doing so, found some silver-lining in this stay at home time. My vacation is scheduled for August 23-26; when’s yours?