Reply to Is there a vacation/staycation happy medium?

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[quote=Anonymous]I think it's very personal but also depends on what your goals are, which may follow from what is stressing you out now. I can't tell from your post if you're craving family time, hiking or other activities you think you don't do enough of at home, relief from particular current stressors, relief from whatever didn't go well in the summer, and/or a replacement for a longer and fancier summer vacation you had to miss, or some combination. And which, if any, of those you reflexively tell yourself you should or shouldn't do while judging yourself and/or because everyone else does or doesn't do them.

You probably know which things I mentioned above are most true for you if you are honest with yourself, but it's easy to get caught up in your head. What I do is go to a library or coffee shop and brain dump like literally just write at the top of a journal page "why I need a vacation" or "things stressing me out" or "things I want to do more of" and start writing lists. When I do that, they tend to evolve into solutions or at least feeling like it makes sense to be stressed with all that been happening. You could even write out what specifically was dissatisfying about the staycation you tried-- distractions of home chores, family members falling into patterns of hiding in their rooms, not seeing any new sites, or whatever.

Then once you've identified what you need most, you can list possible solutions without judgment. I will go out on a limb and guess your parents (or maybe being poor at some point) stressed not wasting money, but the thing is, sometimes you may need to spend money to get something you really value. Sometimes you may not need to (e.g., booking a resort because that's supposed to be relaxing but it's not actually to you), but I think being as honest as possible in your brain dump can make that clearer and ease the guilt if you determine that sleeping away from your house is less relaxing.

For me, I wouldn't go to a resort because I don't care about resort amenities, but I have no problem getting a local hotel room for a night or two when I'm really stressed, but I know that works for me so it's worth the money. I am very clear with myself that I'm purchasing calm and quiet, which ties back to my values and what I'm craving at the time and ultimately helps me be a better family member.

I don't think I could fully relax in a staycation sleeping at my house, but what I could and have done on some long weekends when I stayed home is work on other goals/local bucket list items, after spending the first day off on the laundry list of tasks that were stressing me out. I also scheduled tickets/timed entry or meeting  someone at a certain time and stay out all day. I'd have eaten take out as picnics in your case, for instance, so that I'm really only sleeping at home.[/quote]

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