Staycation: Productivity not Required
This past week I was off work - a “stay-cation”. The kids were off on spring break and they would spend a few days with grandparents and a few days at home with us. Going into the week, I had a running list of things I needed to get done. In fact, I told myself that as long as I didn’t write my chores down and only kept a mental list, I would be less focused on productivity while on vacation.
I’m not so sure I didn’t do more things than I would have if I’d just written then down. We upgraded our car, did a large grocery run, cleaned the house, I planted 9 fruit trees!, attended a 6-year-old’s birthday party, schedule a play date, shopped for spring kids’ clothes. But we also found time for a dinner date, a lot of reading, and a few show binges. The only thing I didn’t do was write; my disappointment level here isn’t terribly high because frankly, I wanted some time away from the page.
When our kids came home mid-week from their grandparents’ house, they wanted us to do all kinds of things with them. On the face of it, this is great, but they wanted things that cost more money, or to arrange hang sessions with their friends on short notice.
By Thursday evening, my wife and I were enjoying ourselves, but also felt fatigued by our want to cram it all in. We decided we wouldn’t force it. In fact, we would brake the mold and get the kids outside to help me with the fruit trees and get some fresh air.
In the end, I was productive during my staycation but not so much so that I didn’t get to enjoy it. I said ‘no’ where I needed to, and I embraced some of the hobbies (like gardening) that I love and often get deprioritized with family / work obligations.
Summer is not far off now, and the kids’ activities are about to start up leaving less time to relax. I’m grateful that I relaxed when I could this past week - but I’m also glad I was productive in ways that matter to me. I germinated my green thumb for the year, I took care of a car problem in-waiting, and I spent some quality time with my wife.
How often do we say that we need a vacation from our vacations? The pressure to do it all — seeing every unseen sight while abroad, or check every box on the chore list while at home — may be with the best intentions, but it fails recognize that we sometimes just need to do less.
"sometimes just need to do less."
Addition by way of subtraction.