Tag: #holidays

The power of anticipation

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Having something to look forward to has so many benefits.  It can be energising and helps relieve stress.  In its simplest form, having a bad week at the office but having fun plans for the weekend keeps you going and helps you focus on doing what you need to do knowing that you have a reward at the end.

Simple things that we can anticipate include things like looking forward to taking a lunch break during the day, watching your favourite TV show, indulging in a piece of cake after a week of dieting, planning holidays and other ways to treat yourself.

Over the last 18 months we have had little to look forward to with not being able to see family and friends, some people haven’t been able to work whilst others have been overworked. My 50th birthday plans didn’t happened as travel was out of the question.  We didn’t get to see our daughter for several months and even when we could, only at a distance, outside.

So, as we crawl carefully out of lockdown and can see people again, we are starting to plan activities that are fun and where we can spend time together.

C and I have booked a week away in late September down to the south coast.  We will make use of our National Trust and English Heritage memberships and visit lots of castles and houses in the area.  I did a google search of other things in the area and came across a vineyard not long from where we are staying.  I mentioned it to C and that they did tours and tastings and they had some vacancies for the time that we are there.  He didn’t take much persuading to book it.  So we have one definite activity booked to look forward to.  Something that’s very grown up and elegant too.

R lives near to Hampton Court Palace and often walks through the parks to view it from the outside.  We have been there before but she doesn’t remember visiting the house, only the time we took her to the flower festival for her birthday one year.  She often spots activities they host but generally they are quite expensive.  I spotted something in my socials time line of a food festival there over the August bank holiday weekend.  I mentioned it to her and she was keen, so I mentioned it to C and he’s booked it.  What’s not to like with all sorts of fab food and drink in a Tudor palace?

So I now have two exciting things to look forward to that are both quite refined events and very grown up, but appeal to some of my favourite things to do: spending time with C and Rand eating and drinking fabulous things.

Do you schedule days off work to do other work?

Image by Sasin Tipchai from Pixabay

I am incredibly fortunate with the amount of annual leave I can take from my employer. Having been an employee for over 20 years I have racked up the maximum number of days off, plus as an office worker, I get Bank Holidays off too.  Sometimes this feels like too many days to try and fit in throughout the year.  This is particularly increased given that I do a four day condensed week.  I get the same level of annual leave and Bank Holiday leave, but I also don’t work on a Friday, so that’s like an extra day.  Worse problems to have, right?

I do find that I usually book days off when I have other things to do, like #bellringing meetings and events, baking for commissions, or as a way to catch up with other chores or must dos.  The majority of my 33 days leave is taken up for these reasons. 

Then there’s the guilty feeling of taking time off to do… nothing!  How is that even possible?  I look around the house thinking about all the things that I should do or could do now I have some time, but usually feel unmotivated to actually do any of it. 

Conversely it’s quite difficult to completely switch off  and disconnect from everything as emails and messages still ping though on the phone.  It’s a discipline that I’m not always successful at.

We have not had a holiday since summer 2019, like so many others, and my 50th birthday plans earlier this year were put on hold.  Again, we’re missing out on our usually summer holiday this year.  I have booked a week off in September though and we feel a bit more comfortable in booking something to go away for the week.

C has actually booked a hotel for the week and already I’m looking forward to getting away.  I don’t usually bother to look into the area we go to and leave it until we get there, but I’ve had a quick look at what there is in the area to visit and see, and thinking about what else we can do. 

We usually book a cottage and do self-catering, but C has booked a hotel for a change.  This means that we’ll have to eat out every evening. Oh dear, how sad!  It also means that we won’t be restricted so much by timescales and can stay out longer than we might have done if we had to get back to cook our own dinner. 

Of course there are many benefits to taking some time off including reducing stress levels, although sometimes the getting there and back can be stressful, improved mental health and motivations, greater wellbeing therefore decreased burnout, and happiness boosted by spending time with loved ones. 

I am ready for a holiday, to go somewhere else for a few days and explore, to turn the phones and emails off (except for emergencies).  We will probably still be taking precautions and using masks in public places etc, but look forward to a bit more freedom.