Stress Free Tip #18 Vaccations

The Ocean, The Beach, Whale Watching, Sailing, Kayaking, Snowboarding, Skiing, Sledding, Snowmen, Snowball fights, Camping, Safari's, Photography, The Lake, Fishing, Old Western Town, Sports Games, Fairs, Museums, Zoos, Amusement Parks, Horse back riding, Hiking, Dance Clubs, Concerts, Casinos, Las Vegas Opera, Broadway, New York City, Pairs, Londen, Rome, Cruises, Hair and Nails, Massages, Spa Getaway, Shopping, Pampering, A day away from work and chores

The list goes on and on and on and on and on......etc.

There are many ways to take a vacation. Whether it be on a weekend getaway or just to the next town over for a dinner and movie. We enjoy just changing our normal routine to do something fun. This helps us change our mindset. We become excited, anxious, happy about the trip that we are going to take. We wish it was right away and then when it comes we enjoy every moment.

I remember when I was younger I would get stressed out with school work. So my mother would always take me on these short trips. She would say "Go get your camera" and off I would run happy as a lark. We didn't have to go anywhere fancy we would just go down a country road and I would get to take pictures. Pictures of squirls, cows, trees whatever we could find that looked interesting. I loved it. My heart would be filled with joy that my troubles would go away. I forgot why I was stressing. When I got home I would go back to my school work and be fine as if I never stressed. ~Kristina

#18 Take a vacation

I know that sometimes there is so much on our plate that we don’t like to think about why we can’t do vacations. So we dream about taking one instead. However dreaming is not the same as actually doing. Everyone needs a vacation. Do it for you. Vacations help lower our stress level. We forget about our work and learn to focus on relaxing. A trip to visit family, a road trip, a long anticipated trip, a trip to the beach and so on. Trips don’t have to last for a long time.

"But I cant afford a trip!" I often hear this. In fact I have gotten in a habit of saying it myself at times. Sometimes we cant afford to take those month or week trips. Instead why not try doing a day trip. A day trip can be just as relaxing.

In fact just to take one day off from everything; work, house chores, errands, school work. Just to take that day off and do nothing but little things you enjoy like watching a movie, going to a park near by, relaxing on the sofa reading a book. No matter what it is, it can help take the stress off. But if you choose this option then you need to make sure you don't do anything! I have met a lot of people that think oh that sounds wonderful so they try to take a day off for themselves. And instead of relaxing they tend to do laundry, wash dishes, clean up, or their husband/wife, kids, friends call and want them to run them places or do things that are not on their agenda, and then feel as if they didn't have a day off. No chores are allowed to be done on a day off.

I don’t have the money to take off for weeks on end. I wish I could but I make it up by doing mini vacations. This actually helps for when my stress level is rising I can take a mini vacation and it will lower it back down. I work five days a week. Two days I have off I use for my mini vacations (once a month I use one of those days as an all cleaning day. That helps me play catch up on house work). I normally ask to have the two days I get off in between my other work days. The reason I do this is for my stress to stay low. I work, then I have a mini vacation day, then work, then mini vacation day, then work, and so forth. I look forward to the day I have off so I am always in a good mood since it is just around the corner. ~Evie

For me I like to save my vacation time. I like to have my month vacation time off. I like to go visit my family and one day is not enough time. We usually plan trips to Disney World, The beach, To the snow, and camping. You really can't do all of that in one or two days. I usually de-stress on my lunch. I will take a walk to refresh me for the rest of the day. I try to do all my work so that I may get off a bit early if possible. After work my friend and I have a system that we always go to the cafe around the corner and get us dinner. We talk about our day this helps me relax. ~ Mark

I like to do one big trip and a couple small trips. I try to make the big trip to be one place like Marine World. I spend a week or two up there just walking around enjoying all the shows, rides, and animals. Then I go back to work. I do a few mini vacations like go to the movies, go out for dinner, a shopping day or a day trip somewhere. Even to the local zoo where you can go pet the animals. But I don't do it all the time maybe once or twice a month if I can. I try to do one fun thing at least once a month. ~ Sally

Today's Challenge: Take a mini vacation. Go see a movie, Go out to eat or for two hours at your house do nothing. No matter how much those around you beg say you are off duty and enjoy reading a book, sipping hot cocoa.

~Hugs Keyria~

Anxiety in a man's heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad. Proverbs 12:25