The worst part of going on vacation is always the aftermath…coming back to reality. I tend to reflect on all of the beautiful places I visited, and am saddened that I don’t have the flexibility to spend more time seeing other parts of the world. To my surprise, coming home from this last trip I found the transition to be slightly less difficult.
I thought about why my vacation blues didn’t linger as long as usual. It could just be that I’m getting older and am becoming more of a homebody, but I don’t think that’s the case. I think that I’m finally in a place where I’m able to recreate the things I love about vacation at home (outside of exploring the world, of course). It’s more about that excitement and ability to decompress. I’m excited about our new home and spending time enjoying it. I’m excited about summer in Chicago and exploring new restaurants, bars, and summer events. I’m excited about hosting friends and sharing our home & city with them. I’ve learned to plan better (aka learning to say “no”) so I’m not overcommitting – definitely a source of stress for me in the past. Bottom line is, I don’t feel like I’m only happy on vacation, which is a good thing!
I realized I didn’t do a mindfulness post in June, so it was hard to pick just five articles this month! So many good reads out there! Below are a few links across the web that have inspired and motivated me the last couple of months –
- We all tend to focus on the negatives of time passing, glorifying the past and our former selves. I read this on Cup of Jo a few weeks back and loved her perspective on aging (both positive & negatives!). She talks about learning that life goes in chapters, having “mental furniture” and how “you’re all your ages in one body”…doesn’t that sound super cool? I realize I still have a lot to learn, but this post made me smile. (cupofjo.com)
- Reading this made me realize that I’m not leaning on travel for my happiness as much as I used to. He talks about us looking for happiness elsewhere – through travel, a new job, moving, etc…where in reality we should be looking for it right where we are 🙂 (pionic.org)
- 9 mindful rituals that will brighten your day – I particularly love the idea of being mindful when drinking tea. (elshopy.com)
- Positive thinking is important on so many levels – it allows you to focus on the present because you’re not consumed with worry in what’s going to happen in the future, or dwelling on mistakes you made in the past. This was a great read on freeing your mind from fear of failure, with examples we can all relate to! (inc.com)
- Another interesting post on behaviors that drain our mental energy – from wanting to control the uncontrollable to obsessing with how things “should be”. I like that they started the post off with a few short stories that quickly put things into perspective. Favorite quote from the article -“what we see in life – how we feel about ourselves, our lives, and the people around us – greatly depends on how we think”. (marcandangel.com)
