10 Tips for Taking it Easy!

Because it’s harder than you’d think!

If only we were cats! Photo Victoria Tronina on unsplash

The long awaited school holidays are here. You’ve been waiting for this chance to unwind. But it can be harder than you expected. You’re still moving and thinking at 100 miles an hour and you can’t sit still. Or, just as bad, you’ve completely flopped and the holidays are going by, and you’re worried you won’t do all the things you’d hoped to do. And you really don’t want to waste this time. And this was supposed to be a time off from all the stress!

So here are a few tips.

1. Sometimes relaxing doesn’t just happen because you’ve got time to do it. Sometimes we have to make a choice to relax. Sometimes we even have to work to relax. You might find meditation, mindfulness or yoga useful.
2. Doing nothing isn’t the only way of resting. Sometimes doing nothing is too hard. Sometimes the key is to do something else, that you know will either relax you or energise you. That might be spending time with other people, spending time outdoors or being creative for example.
3. Figure out what self-care actually means to you. It might be massages and candles. But it’s just as likely to be keeping moving or visiting the doctor or checking your blood pressure, or having the kind of important conversation with your nearest and dearest that you keep avoiding.
4. Think about the difference between happiness, joy, pleasure, fun and contentment. Which do you want more of? What brings it to you?
5. Prioritise yourself. We spend a lot of time running round after other people. But make a list of the thing you need to do in order to unwind, and put completing that list first. This might feel uncomfortable. It’s a new habit. But stick to it and explain its importance to the people around you.
6. Someone said to me the other day that organising summer holidays when you have kids is more complicated than organising a UN Peacekeeping Mission. They could have said school or class to be honest! I know people who have spreadsheets. But then again if you work in a school you’re probably used to schedules. But unscheduled time is also nice, time just to do what you fancy and see what happens next. So you need the right balance of scheduled and unscheduled time. Sometimes you may even have to schedule in unscheduled time!
7. Build slack into the system. It’s very easy to enter the summer holidays with a list of things to do that only just squeezes into the time we’ve got. Not surprising really, because that’s how we live the rest of the time. But make sure it’s not so tightly packed that it’s easily thrown out of flunter and you have to work to get it back. And allow for surprises.
8. If you don’t have work to do this holiday, you’re either very lucky or incredibly well organised. For many of us there will be things we have to take care of. And that’s ok. The challenge is not to let that work leak into personal time. So stick to doing it at set times. Or you can organise your diary the other way — using what artists refer to as negative space. Instead of blocking in times to work, block in your uninterrupted time. And protect it. Fiercely.
9. Ditch the ‘should’. There’s often a sense that there are things you ‘should’ and ‘shouldn’t be doing. Instead, think about what you want to do and what you chose to do. You don’t have to explain how your spend your time to anyone. And that can be a strange feeling in and of itself!
10. Make a list of all the things you can let go of. All the things you don’t need to do and don’t need to think about. And then let go of them. You could even write the list on paper and then (safely) put a match to it!

Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com.