Inspirational 'Ripple'  Columns
Holidays

Great when you can get away for a weekend to rest but not so great when you have to battle traffic and travel long distances to get back home and end up feeling like you have not actually had time out.

Better would be getting to the end of a weekend and feel like you have had a holiday even though you spent it at home.

Better still, having such a weekend holiday experience while home and realising that this concept has merits for extension beyond the weekend into your normal working week.

When people think holiday, they normally fantasise about:

• Change of routine
• Time to relax
• Leisurely meals
• Change of environment
• Even some dirt

Knowing that a holiday has been planned and booked is in itself like going on holiday with the excitement of what the holiday might bring.  Holiday is a licence - a licence to do different things.  To do what you choose to do, when you choose to do it even when you choose to do nothing at all.  Holiday, when seen as the time when we can relax, when we allow ourselves to rebel, to feel free and unattached to the daily grind, is flawed.  A two week holiday from a 52 week routine is hardly worthwhile.  Two weeks calculates at 3.8% of a year.  This 3.8% of freedom is even further reduced when we factor in the time that we lose, when that sinking feeling sets in at the point of realising that the holiday is coming to an end.  In many cases this feeling sets in on the Friday before the Monday when you have to report back to work with a zero balance on your leave record.   Poor Mondays – no wonder they have such a bad reputation.  Next time plan to go back on a Tuesday – dare to give yourself a break.

Sugar packets at restaurants can be a wonderful source of motivation.  Maybe you too have seen the one suggesting that your vocation should be your vacation.  The message is clear – enjoy what you do for a living and enjoy the time you spend doing it.  When something is done once it can be repeated.  I know that there are people who get it right.  They enjoy life every day.  They do not live from one annual holiday to the next.  They experience routine changes, relaxation, leisurely meals and different environments as part of daily life.  A weekend at home can feel like a weekend away.  A day at the office can be enjoyed.  You do not have to vacate your home or your office to feel like you are on vacation.  List the aspects of enjoying life and enjoy where you are.  Do something different:

• Relax every day even if for a mere five minutes.  Slow your breathing and catch your breath.
• Set a table for dinner and for breakfast and do not eat your lunch at your desk.
• TV is violent.  Manage the impact it is having on your life.
• Change your view:
  • Walk in the park instead of in the mall.
  • Sit in your garden instead of your TV lounge.
  • Eat a meal on your patio, or better still, move your patio table into the garden.

Planning a holiday is invigorating – plan your “tomorrow with a difference” now.
Going on holiday is invigorating – live like you are on holiday now.
Holiday and holiday pics go hand-in-hand – dust your camera off and capture your daily Kodak moments now.