Moment with Mel: A Nothing Vacation
Usually when you take a vacation you do something fun or go somewhere awesome. Despite all the time I had off in 2021 due to illness, I still had vacation time I had to take before 2022. So I took the time and did a whole lot of nothing.
My 2021 was filled with surgeries, needles, medicine, doctors and hospital stays. It was definitely a rough year, so I decided to use my vacation time to do absolutely nothing and rest. Doing this isn’t as easy as it sounds. Most of us feel like we’re doing something wrong nothing. If you’re a like me and have a “type A” personality, you feel guilty doing nothing. Self-care isn’t something that you’re used to.
There’s a lot of guilt that can accompany doing nothing. And I felt that guilt for the first few days. Even though I was taking a “staycation” there’s always stuff to do. Clean closets, clean the fridge, start an exercise routine, and the list goes on. Now I’ll admit, I did do a few adult tasks while I was off work, however the main part of my vacation was spent doing nothing.
The first couple of days I slept a lot. and snuggled with Eddy and Kramer. I think I needed it. I’d wake up, drink coffee, have breakfast and take a nap. And I felt bad about that! And I shouldn’t have. There were things I “should” have been doing. I think lots of us feel that guilt when we put ourselves first. Daily I reminded myself that it was ok to focus on me!
I watched lots of movies and TV comedies, ate bagels I got from New York, and just relaxed. Eventually I did some adulting, but most of my vacation was just me being lazy. Self-care is necessary. We all need it!
If you’ve had a particularly rough time the last few months, and most of us have with COVID around, take some time for you! And don’t feel guilty about it because we all need to escape from reality. Turn your phone off, get lost in a tv show or in a book, stay away from the news, and just focus on yourself. I don’t make resolutions, but this year I’m going to make myself a priority. I hope you do too!
Happy 2022!
