This past week I took a long overdue vacation. I read some Elena Ferrante books, ate a lot of SmartPop white cheddar popcorn and revisited the movie Arrival, which was weirdly very soothing.
Basically, I tried to have a week that wasn't about results. No painting. No planning. No reading 'productive' articles. No cleaning. No trying to make a healthy meal. No flossing. No podcasting. And if the mood struck me ... no bra.
At this moment, a true vacation for me is a week free from responsibility. And when I say responsibility, I don't mean responsibilities like feeding your children or paying your bills. I mean the responsibilities we create unnecessarily for ourselves, like trying to anticipate the future during an insanely uncertain time. Or expecting ourselves to have the answer to every problem. Or be the perfect leader, partner, or creative during a crisis.
If this resonates with you, it might be worth considering:
What do you feel like you're responsible for right now? Can you let some of that responsibility go? Even temporarily?
In this pandemic, a week off from some of my responsibilities was a true vacation. It helped me consider what I was perceiving as a responsibility that didn't need to be, or could be approached very differently. If you're doing a stay-cation this summer, try aiming for a week of 'no results,' i.e. a week where you have no objective other than to take care of yourself, sleep, and eat some white cheddar popcorn. I highly recommend it.
