Author: Ann Grandchamp, Mental Health Editor
Let me demonstrate to you that mental health professionals don’t always have it worked out and together. Ever since coming back to Switzerland in 2017, we’ve chosen to stay home and enjoy the lakeside and go away by the sea in October when the weather is starting to get cold here. So we have what is called a STAYCATION. It usually works quite well.
This year was different though. The weather was despicable. Terrible. We coped fairly well to start with but singing “rain rain go away, come again another day” got old pretty quickly. Now, I’m the first to say that weather is something we cannot influence. It’s out of our zone of influence. However,
The one thing we can influence, is ourselves and how we react to the weather.
Let me tell ya, I had to work extra hard on that one this year. No beach, no swimming, no warmth, no sun. For days. And so the first two weeks of our family holiday was an awkward dance (yes, I call it a dance because the words we use are powerful and impactful). There was quite a lot of bumping into each other, stepping on each other’s toes, blaming and tears.
It was meh and everyone was grumpy. So I decided to pull out my life coach hat…
We had a family meeting and talked about what wasn’t working. We brainstormed ideas of how to make it work. I won’t lie to you: the fact that the sun and heat decided to show up for our last week of staycation helped. But the plan we put together would have worked anyway. It was simple really (why didn’t we think of it before??)
Mornings are free
Each family member can sleep in as long as they like, have breakfast if they want when they want, and do whatever they want for the morning. No one is allowed to criticize or judge or comment.
Afternoons are for family outings
As the weather improved we decided to try a different lakeside beach in our area each day. It was so much fun and because we were discovering new swimming spots we truly felt like we were somewhere else. Plan B, if the weather had stayed bad, would have been to plan family indoor activities in the afternoons (there are numerous websites for ideas).
Home rules
- Simplify meals as much as possible (keeping them healthy-ish) and eat out a few times.
- No housework and minimal laundry.
- Everyone cleans up after themselves (this rule will continue on)
And there you have it. Our family staycation in a nutshell. 2 weeks of crappy, 1 week of happy. We finished on a wonderful note and have decided to enjoy the lakeside after work and school as much as we can for as long as we can. And now to prepare our Autumn get away.
Stress free Staycation Tips
- Figure out what you want, expect and need. Allow each family member to express themselves.
- Decide on a budget.
- Establish simple home guidelines/rules.
- Try new things or experiences.
- Be a tourist in your own area.
If you’ve ever done a staycation, please share with us in the comments. What didn’t work? What did work? What made it fun?
Happy back to school days – take care!
Ann Grandchamp, Lightning Process® practitioner,
Advanced Master NLP practitioner, Life Coach
If you…
- have fatigue, anxiety, depression, burnout, or ongoing chronic health issues,
- struggle with meditation and other healing solutions but would love the same benefits and more,
- feel that your healing is prevented by sympathetic nervous system over-sensitisation,
- want to live a healthier, happier, and more harmonious life,
then the Lightning Process® may very well be the solution you’ve been looking for.
To learn more, please click on the link below.
For some Swiss Travel inspo, make sure to download our free ebook – 21 Hidden Gems of Switzerland
To read posts from July, click here
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