TAKE YOUR VACATION! Yes, I'm using my shout-y voice
Yes, I'm using my shout-y voice on this one.
This week, I was facilitating for a group of women leaders, and over lunch the conversation turned to the topic of self-care.
(Full transparency, I always cringe internally a bit when this topic comes up because someone inevitably talks about massages and face masks...)
And, someone brought up...massages and face masks.
So, I took a deep breath and asked:
When was the last time you took a vacation when you did not work?
Most of the table looked at me like I had asked the question in another language.
Then, someone spoke up that for the FIRST TIME IN 10 YEARS she had just done this.
10 YEARS?!?!?
The conversation at the table turned as though she had accomplished a triathlon. Women were in awe of her restraint and her ability to manage this. Comments of subtle envy emerged, "I wish I could do that", "I could never pull that off", "I just can't."
Yes, you can.
IT IS YOUR VACATION!
Please tell me, in the year of our Lord, 2025, that we are not still working through our vacations!?!
Friends, I get it. The demands on your time don't stop. They never will.
YOU have to take your time back. Protect it as though it is your life. Because, it is.
THIS is what self-care looks like! (I'm also a fan of a massage, but it's not a substitute for TIME.)
OK, I'll tone down my shout-y voice now 😁
Here are a couple of ways to reclaim your time:
Create a Summer Intentions List!
Each season is a new opportunity to engage with INTENTION. How do you want to feel during this summer? What do you want to create or experience?
Start with 5 things (and keep going as you wish!). Here are a few of mine:
Try new mocktail recipes to find my "Drink of the Summer"
Only work 1 Friday per month
Visit one new place in nature I've never been before
Schedule "walk and talks" with friends 1x/week
Stock a "S'Mores Shelf" so I'm always ready when the mood hits
Eat fewer things from restaurants and more things from farmers market
Re-learn French
Join a Book Club for Inspiration and Community!
It's not too late to join us for the Summer Book Club! I'm enjoying this self-guided journey along with the other amazing humans who are reading The Book of Alchemy!
Listen, friend, keep it easy, light, and fun, because that's what summer is all about, right?
Please do NOT make this another to-do list!
And, TAKE YOUR VACATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 😎
