Daily Vacation (What Does It Mean?)

It seems like vacation comes and goes so quickly, and then you're dumped back into your everyday life.  You get lost in the hectic, endless weeks of the ordinary and look forward to you next trip away so you can once again enjoy those moments of bliss.

This blog is about recapturing the feeling of those moments within your endless weeks of the ordinary.  You do not have to drudge through life waiting for your next vacation to experience calm and joy and fun.  Instead, I challenge you to join me in taking Daily Vacations that will improve your outlook, your sense of well-being, and your life in general.

I have lived with this mindset for most of my adult life, but I was finally able to find the appropriate phrase to describe it this summer.  My highly anticipated real vacation was coming to an end, and I was looking for ways to extend my trip once I got home.  I could not wake up early and go for a sunrise walk on the beach, but I could trade it for a sunrise cup of coffee on my own front stoop.  Both events equipped me with a calm to tackle the rest of the day with zest, made me feel in control of my schedule, and had me approaching life with a "bigger picture" mindset.

Your Daily Vacation could be something as simple as taking the time to watch the sunrise (or set) or looking for fun things to do around your own hometown.  I will be letting you know about, as I hear of or experience them, interesting and inexpensive activities that will add a bit of fun to your normal schedule.

To kickstart your own inspiration, let me tell you about the Daily Vacation I took yesterday:
I enjoyed my usual cup of coffee (with hot chocolate mixed in!) a little later than the sunrise, but still early enough to breathe the fresh morning air and surprise my neighbors with a hello as they headed off for work.  I then went through my day getting things done and tackling normal tasks.  After dinner, I decided to take another vacation since the weather was so beautiful.  I packed up my 5 month old daughter and we headed to the local park where every field was being used for preseason practices and families were all over the place.  I put down a blanket in the middle of it all, and we spent a couple hours people watching (a Daily Vacation bonus: during my regular day, I found salt water taffy in the back of the refrigerator and brought it to the park to enjoy!).  After a pretty sunset, we headed home where I put my daughter to bed, popped some Smartpop, and enjoyed a "private screening" of an old Marx Brothers movie.  It didn't matter that majority of my day was humdrum.  The same-old, same-old had been sandwiched between Daily Vacations, and those moments are what turned my day from ordinary to something truly special.