Tag: Staycation

Staycation or vacation or both, if by the end of it you’re ready to return to work, I can only say, personally-speaking, you’re just not doing it right.
Sure, you may think that, try to convince yourself of it, but if you truly feel you’re ready to return to work, you need to say it out loud and listen to how ridiculous it sounds.
I am not meant to rise at 5 a.m. each day and although I wasn’t that far off from that wake-up call on the first day of staycation, by day two (yes, day two!), I had already started drifting further from that pre-crack of dawn, zombie apocalypse-like state. Soon enough, I had fallen into a comfortable 7:30-8 wake up (and so did our dog).
It’s very important to do nothing and relax while you’re enjoying time off from work. I did get to do some of that, but we also caught up on things around (and inside) the house that have been neglected. I understand this, but if I’m on staycation by myself, there’s a whole lot of nothing going on and it’s excitingly tranquil, not to mention mostly just what I need.

The day before staycation started, I was still wearing a long-sleeved flannel shirt and jeans when walking the dog at the aforementioned pre-crack of dawn. During the course of my time off, the temps outdoors shot up in the mid-80s. When it gets this hot this quick, it’s bittersweet for me, as although warmer temperatures typically mean outdoor activities and gatherings, I prefer cooler temperatures. If it never gets hotter than 70 degrees anywhere, that’s alright by me.

The warmer, late spring days are a portending of even hotter summer days ahead. These are the times when we run into friends in air-conditioned grocery stores and pseudo-plan to get together.

But, hot days are ironically an internal prison of sorts. Similar to indoor escapes from winter, we prefer the comfort of air-conditioned spaces during the summer in favor of sweaty outdoor barbecues on the patio.
This is why the spring staycation is perfect. You can dine out just like when you’re on vacation somewhere away from home. But, you don’t have the hotel expense. On the other hand, you don’t have maid service unless you, yourself, are the maid.
As the final day of staycation is underway, it is a reminder of the work that will come this time tomorrow. I know it’ll be fine ploughing back into work. But, staycation’s final hours has my mood increasingly souring at the prospect of going back to work—just like some people who get the Sunday night blues before Monday.
The return to work brings with it all the things preparation-wise one must do beforehand. The laundry, the tidying up, the getting back to an early-rising routine—all things I’m pretty much not in the least interested in doing at the moment.
Now that I’m getting close to the end of this, I’m thinking more and more about endless staycation and whether or not I would like it. While I can be extroverted pretty much on command, I am by nature more of an introvert.
I’ve found that you can have good staycations by yourself, but sharing them can make them exceptional. Writing is a solitary work. It’s something I love, even more so than the very staycation I was longing for in the first place.
“I’m ready to go back to work.”
Still sounds ridiculous, yes, but not as much as before, all things considered.

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