The Mini Vacation - February 8, 2022

We’re in the thick of it – the cold, the gray, the sleet and the snow. Add that to the woes of the continuing pandemic and we have a recipe for the blues. I find it curious that blue is attributed to sadness because any shade of blue is my favorite – a cerulean sky, a turquoise ocean, robin’s egg blue. And who doesn’t love a hydrangea bush in bloom? It even has its own paint color at Benjamin Moore.

It's February in New England. We may have the blues but they’re not the blues we want. Occasionally mother nature graces us with a blue sky and it makes me giddy. It’s amazing what a bit of sunshine and color can do for the mind. But I cannot base my mood on the weather. There are forty days left until spring and there’s no guarantee things will be great again on March 20th. In fact, Granite Staters usually refer to spring as mud season. I really can’t get excited about going from gray to brown.

I can’t embrace my kind of blues just yet, but I can try to embrace the winter blues. For those of us who don’t ski, snowboard or ice fish, it’s a safe bet to say we spend most of our hours inside, whether at home or at work. When I was still working, a wise woman friend once told me, “You must put mini vacations in every day.” I’ve always remembered that good advice although I’m not always good at following it. When she said that, I remember asking her, “what exactly is a mini vacation?” I was surprised by her simple answer, as I usually think these kinds of things must be grand gestures or plans. I’ve learned that simple is usually best. An afternoon coffee break. A quick visit with a fellow employee at work. A phone call to say hi to Mom. A fifteen-minute walk outside. When I didn’t specifically plan these “mini vacations,” the workday always took precedence. There was always another project to work on or meeting to attend.

“I believe the nicest and sweetest of days are not those which anything very splendid or wonderful or exciting happens, but just those that bring simple little pleasures, following one another softly, like pearls slipping off a string.” - Anne of Avonlea

In this stage of my life, I am mostly home. The mini vacations look different but the principle still applies. Plan them each day. For me, it’s knowing there’s a good John Grisham or Charles Martin novel waiting for me later on. There’s a seashell puzzle on the dining room table calling me to put in another few pieces, and a scheduled phone call with a former college roommate. Every day I take ten minutes to escape in a guided beach meditation. Sometimes when I sit down for lunch (If you are still eating at your desk while you work, stop it!) I go to You Tube and watch all the funniest game show moments. There is seriously nothing funnier that watching someone goof up on national tv! On the weekends, I love to sit by the fireplace and watch a favorite show I’ve recorded or knock off an episode or two of my latest show obsessions. This month it’s Project Runway Season 19!

There are those days I start to conquer my “to do” list and when I finally look at the time, hours have gone by, and I can’t believe it’s already three o’clock. And I’m exhausted. When I look back, I don’t remember all the hours I spent getting things done. I remember the times I stepped away and gave myself a mini vacation. I wish I did it more often.

So, what’s your mini vacation?