Bringing Vacation Home
Mosquito bites and all
Hi there! Thanks for stopping by. I’m behind schedule this week. Yikes! My inner perfectionist is totally freaking out. My inner wise woman knows that this isn’t a big deal and is reassuring her that it’s ok. I’m off kilter after taking four days off, including from writing.
I came back from a little trip feeling refreshed and ready to jump back into the swing of things. Then yesterday, a series of synchronicities placed me in a parking lot across from the Verizon store with 15 minutes to kill. I popped in for some information and found that I had $1000 credit towards a new phone! I left with an iPhone 15 (my 7 y/o nephew told me this is The Best One EVER!) for only $10. It took me several hours and all of my headspace to figure out how to use it.
And now, I’m back in my groove. Maybe. Who knows? I’m writing, anyway. With a matcha/spirulina face mask saturating my skin cells with antioxidants, my signature tea steeping, sitting on my BioMat soaking up some anti inflammatory heat.
And now… back to our regularly scheduled programming…
I just got back from a long weekend visiting a dear friend in Virginia. I’m taking a few short trips this summer and calling them “vacation”. This fall I’ll travel to Michigan to see my family for a week, but that will not be very vacation-y (quite the opposite!), so I’m attempting to balance the scales with these mini escapades.
I sat on a train for 8 hours each way and thoroughly enjoyed every minute. Weird? Maybe. I love traveling by train. Luggage is not a hassle or an expense, I can bring my own liquids, the seats are spacious and it’s easy to get up and move around. You don’t have to take off your shoes, put all your valuables on a conveyor unattended or get scanned or patted down.
I downloaded several movies in addition to a selection of audio and Kindle books so I could have lots of entertainment choices. It’s a long-time fantasy of mine to have full days to read and when I’m on Amtrak, there isn’t much else to do. And no pesky household chores or errands trying to lure my attention away.
As I was comfortably passing the time and trying not to eat all my snacks in the first hour, it occurred to me that I had already entered Vacation Mode. That liminal space where relaxation is the norm and worries are easily suspended for the time being. Given that I wasn’t anywhere luxurious or exotic when I got in the zone, it became apparent that it was a mindset, not a location. Vacation Mode began long before my arrival.
Naturally, I decided I wanted more of this delightful feeling!
I’d spent the week prior to my journey imagining everything flowing smoothly. I saw myself smiling and comfortable during my travels, smiling and laughing on the beach with the perfect weather, smiling and savoring meals with my friend and her family. I added some Reiki sprinkles to all my visualizations for some added oomph and knew that the way was paved for optimal pleasure.
Unsurprisingly, my wishes came true. After the previous week of rain and extreme heat, there was sun and temps in the mid 80’s. Dinner plans and entertainment organically fell into place. I was delighted to spend mornings and evenings sitting in the backyard drinking in the breeze, the fig tree and all the birds it attracted, the bubbling goldfish pond with resident snapping turtle, butterflies, hummingbirds, and dragonflies galore.
And mosquitoes. I started collecting bites in the first few minutes. Curiously, they didn’t itch. Two dozen red welts, clustered around my ankles, but zero irritation.
Until I got off the train in Philly. As soon as I stepped onto the platform at home, those bug bites all lit up. What?! And this is when I knew I was onto something about bringing vacation home. Somehow my mindset had shifted back to a different zone, and I was no longer immune to petty annoyances.
What was different? I had slipped out of the moment and was thinking of all the things that needed doing. I gifted myself a buffer at the end of the trip so I wasn’t thrust immediately into busyness. I had half a day to acclimate, so there was no rush, but I was definitely thinking about meal prep, laundry and upcoming work. I wanted to get some exercise and sunshine and hopefully catch my brothers’ kiddos on FaceTime. I was no longer appreciating the here and now.
Upon further reflection, I realized I had spent most of my time away in a vibration of gratitude. Actually, the week before was saturated as well; it’s an inherent part of my visualization practice. It’s easy to be appreciative of a home and garden I’ve not had to create or maintain, for spending time with good friends, for homemade meals that I didn’t cook, for being chauffeured about to the beach and restaurants.
It wasn’t all easy. I’m very accustomed to my routines and like having all my things in exactly the right place. Travel challenges me to be flexible in ways that home life does not. I made a commitment to honor the necessary self-care rituals and to pause the rest, to go with the flow and adapt to different circumstances than I would have designed. Because I was so intentional about it all, gratitude emerged organically.
While I adore my friend, our lives are not very similar, and I don’t agree with all her choices. Isn’t that usually the case? Who wants to have friends who are exactly like us? That would be so boring. I found myself easily able to slip into a mode of choosing where I placed my attention and not lingering on the differences. It was a conscious choice that allowed me to maintain my Vacation Mode beyond its previous limits.
Somehow this state of gratitude, flexibility and presence created a magical bubble in which mosquito bites did not itch. And the neck tension that had been lingering for a few weeks disappeared. So did the unpleasant nerve pain I often feel in my hip in the mornings. It was amazing how sleeping on a foldout that wasn’t ideal and eating foods I normally wouldn’t made me feel better in my body.
I’m writing these words to help clarify the elements that enable a vacation mindset so I can integrate them more into my daily life. The shock of those bug bites coming to life upon my return to Philly was really eyeopening!
Everything I did is easily transferable to mundane workdays.
Visualizing what I want while steeped in gratitude for all the good. Placing my attention on that which I enjoy rather than that which I do not. Relaxing the rigidity of routine without sacrificing the structure entirely. Savoring the simple pleasure and being anchored in the moment. Providing myself with lots of enjoyable options for downtime. Rolling with the day as it unfolded and taking the time to really drop in and appreciate all the goodness.
So far it seems to be working! As it’s the first of the month, I need to pay bills and do my bookkeeping. I have errands to run and it’s going to be a scorcher outside. Administrative responsibilities have piled up and my desk needs some attention. It’s not a day off by any means, but I do feel mostly like I’m in the Vacation Mode regardless.
I wonder if I can reset my system and calibrate this as my new default? And I’m going to use these same techniques to do that. Full-time Vacation Mode, here I come!
I can feel a new moon guided practice percolating that will incorporate these new insights. Stay tuned. :)