FamilyEducation.com
Print this page E-Mail this pageSign-up for Newsletters

Parenting Newsletters. Great tips for your inbox.

Engage in Vacation Play

One of the problems with all-or-nothing thinking is that it encourages us to associate certain activities exclusively with weekends or vacations. So, we put off enjoying activities that we could easily enjoy on a normal day. True, you can't scuba dive in your back yard or go deep-sea fishing from your office window, but there are many vacation-type activities that might relax you.

  • Read one chapter of a beach novel, or do part of a crossword puzzle.
  • Practice your putting or ask the office "pro" for a few pointers.
  • Take time out for a conversation at the coffee bar. Share a few jokes.
  • Linger over the newspaper, as if you had nowhere to go.
  • Build sand castle art without sand: a tinker toy tower or a paperclip sculpture?
  • Write a few pages in a journal, just recording whatever thoughts pop into your mind.
If you spend ten minutes a day "playing," by the end of the year you will have vacationed a total of sixty-one hours — more than one full work week!

Read the next Quick-Lift

More on Chilling Out

Excerpted from
Recharge in Minutes ©2003
Suzanne Zoglio, PhD
www.zoglio.com

Buy the book

More on: Stress Management for Moms