“Happiness consists of living each day as if it were the first day of your honeymoon and the last day of your vacation.” – Leo Tolstoy
The summer is coming to a close. Certainly, if you have kids, school kicking back in is a very clear signal that we are back to business, the chilled-out summer months are done for another year, and we are on the road to winter festival season!
If you are like me, you might make every effort to cling to that feeling that holidays give you. I try to take the zen, conscious feelings, clear-headed sensations, relaxed vibes, and positive thoughts that I have managed to amass on a break or vacation with me, back into the world of work and normal life.
However, even if I manage to see my life through the lens of my refreshed holiday self, that feeling never lasts forever. Eventually, all the rhythms and stresses of the daily grind bed themselves back in. And though this may be the case, there are things you can do with that brief burst of holiday energy to embed new habits and ideas that might change your life for the better for a longer term than the lasting power of those sweet summer vibes.
1. Put Holiday Daydreams Into Practice
Breaks and holidays, for me, offer a chance to actually think. I find, that with everything going on in normal life, rarely does my brain get an opportunity to wander. To organically come to conclusions and have ideas without the pressure of life getting in the way. I will always come back from holidays with ideas about how I’m going to change my life. I’ll have things I want to implement to improve my resilience, practices I want to begin to boost my wellbeing, and ideas I want to turn into magnificent projects or works of art!
Now, most of these are pipe dreams. But maybe you could pick one of these bright ideas to actually focus on and make a go of!
2. Add A New Hobby
One of your daydreams might have been to add a new hobby to your life. So do it! Get started. Learning something new and exciting will make the day-to-day feel enticing. it may also help to make your routine feel fresh, not entirely like the day-to-day that you left behind. And who knows this new hobby might be something you end up really passionate about. As you learn new skills, meet new people, and boost your wellbeing through experiencing new things, you might even find your life transformed forever!
3. Exercise
Exercise is always there to give your mood a boost. I talk about the benefits of even gentle exercise a great deal, and that is because there really is nothing that boosts your mood and the way that your body functions like a walk, a run, a swim, a cycle, or a gym session. Getting [back] into exercise post-holiday will also help to remove any feeling that you have ‘let things go’ during your downtime. I know, that if I have taken a break, it only takes one gym session to have me feeling like I’m back on top of my exercise routine again.
4. Be Social
See people and be merry. Friends and family are sure to give you a boost if you are feeling down about your transition back into non-holiday life. Laugh, share, love and be loved.
5. Plan Stuff You Like
I always find that it always helps to have something fun on the horizon. And so, I always have a few things planned. It might be a small weekly thing. For me, it is Pizza Friday. We always have pizza on a Friday. Maybe it’s a concert or theatre trip in a few months’ time. Or it might even be the promise of your next big trip. Get something fun in the diary.
By Chris Thomson
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