Holidays are wonderful things. We anticipate and plan for them looking forward to getting away from our everyday routine. A chance to explore somewhere new, to eat in a more leisurely way and to slow our routine down and relax. If our everyday lives have been busy, a holiday may also bring on illness as a physical reminder of the stress we’ve been under. It’s as if our body has been given a wake up call that we’ve overdone things and we need to take better care of ourselves.
I remember holidays in young adulthood, pre-motherhood. Simple escapes with my husband to the seaside. Low cost and fun. I’d enjoy the escape from reality so much I’d be in tears as we began our drive home. Aware that our normal routine, both at work and home, was waiting for us on our return.
Holidaying with young children was a different matter. As a mother of little ones it didn’t feel like a real break from the everyday. Just a movement of our regular routine and rituals to an unfamiliar location. At times it would feel like too much effort. It would have been much easier to stay at home with familiar toys, beds and food. The key was to slow down and relax. To loosen expectations of ourselves, our children and what we planned. To focus on togetherness and connection. To simplify the days we were away.
Now that our children are grown and have their own families holidays are more regular and not necessarily planned with others. It’s much easier to ‘escape’ without the commitments of work, school and growing children. Sometimes our trips are planned to distant destinations. At other times we are happily exploring our own region and what it has to offer.
Holidays give us the chance to slow down, rest or nap and lose a sense of clock time and replace it with rising with the sun and going to bed early.
- We eat meals when we are hungry and give ourselves time to enjoy them.
- We find time to read books, play games and connect in deeper conversations.
- We explore somewhere different and experience new, interesting activities.
- We are more likely to treat and indulge ourselves.
There are things about enjoyable holidays that are worth keeping for our other days of the year. Things to bring into our normal, everyday existence. We’ll always still have responsibilities. Yet by introducing some of our holiday habits more regularly, we nurture and restore ourselves on a more ongoing basis.
Not only is this prioritizing our own self-care. It also allows us to be the best version of ourselves with others.
‘I believe rituals of rest and relaxation can be part of our ‘everyday’
Naomi Whitfeld, Wellness Warrior and IKOU Founder
Take time to reflect on what you’ve enjoyed most on your holidays. Then consciously plan for those things to occur more regularly in your day to day life.