You know you need a break, but you don’t have time or maybe budget to travel. Maybe it’s time for a staycation! Get ideas on why time away from your daily routine matters and learn more about making the most of staying local.
Why do we need time away from work?
Let’s face it. Some stress isn’t bad. In fact, it’s actually a good thing. It can keep us accountable and striving for important short-term goals. “Moderate and short-lived stress—like…preparing to deliver a speech in public—improves cognitive performance and memory.”1
It’s chronic stress – like that from work (and a pandemic) –that is really bad for your body.2 It can affect everything from digestion to sleep to the body’s ability to fight infection to cardiovascular health.2 You could start making worse decisions.2 These are only a few of the issues from chronic stress.
For those whose jobs use a lot of brainpower, consider that our minds aren’t designed to let us work for 8 straight hours a day without mental fatigue setting in. While we need to step away each night from work, the need to combat mental fatigue makes it important to integrate leisure time like vacation into the mix.3
And the past few years have layered on the chronic stress. On top of everything else you’re doing at work and the usual at-home tasks, you’ve likely also either managed your child’s remote learning or kept a younger child entertained when daycares closed. If you did choose to travel, that is causing a bunch of stress too.
Benefits at work of extended downtime
You might be saying that you can get all the downtime you need each night because you have a balanced lifestyle. I get it. I step away too, but I still need time away to reset.
Or maybe you’re saying you simply don’t have time for vacation because you’re not being productive enough. You need more work time. So, let’s consider the benefits at work when you have extended downtime. Workers often get many of their best ideas away from work.4 (Road trips are often where I get my inspiration for writing!) Without having to deal with the day-to-day, employees and entrepreneurs have time and opportunity to consider different and innovative approaches.4 More than a third of workers report feeling better about their jobs and more productive after taking a vacation.4
If you’re wondering how to talk to work about taking some time off, I share some thoughts in an article on Monster.
Enjoy staying local
Let’s face it. This right now might not be best time for a trip. Is it time for a staycation then? Stay local and still get away from your day-to-day.
Be a tourist in your hometown or in the area around where you live. In our case, there are loads of day trips to visit and come home to our own beds, which is a wonderful thing. Go to museums, take a historic walk and look at the buildings, go to touristy spots, eat at new restaurants you’ve been wanting to try, or simply grab take-out from new places. You can take pictures at the touristy spots or even get “souvenirs.”
Or maybe set up a tent in the backyard and camp out. You can make it as much a “real” camping trip as you’d like with a tent, sleeping bags, etc. and cook out. Hike on local nature trails or nearby state parks (we visited 10+ during the pandemic). Or do some glamping with comfy pillows and cushions and delicious take out. Or even take your family to a local hotel. Some hotels will offer special rates for locals.
Make it what you want and enjoy it! Be creative!
Benefits of a staycation
And there are so many benefits to staying local. For starters, it requires no travel. That can be budget-friendly and it’s less stressful. Even when we go to the state parks that are nearby, it’s a fraction of the cost and it requires hiking backpacks and snacks, but no major packing (yay!)
Even if you do day trips, it’s still less travel time. During the pandemic, we’ve been sticking to nearby state parks within a 1.5 hour radius of travel time. And, let’s be honest, long car rides with kids can be a struggle. Staying local – within a 2-hour window –can help with that.
Second, you get the opportunity to support local businesses. The pandemic has been hard on local businesses, especially those that require foot traffic. Embrace the chance to support some spots you don’t usually frequent. They appreciate it!
One final benefit to think about it that you can still create amazing memories and have stories that last a lifetime. That part is no different from when you travel long distances. Kids are often so excited about the simplest things like sleeping in a tent in the backyard or going to a new fun hotel. They really want the time to connect with you and each other, especially if they can do it in a fun way. What a great way to explore your city that you don’t always get with the hustle and bustle of normal life! Time with family doing new things is the chance to focus on fun and each other.
Final thoughts on getting full benefits of a staycation
Whatever you do, it’s important to try to make it as much like a vacation as possible. Keep the family off of devices and limit your checking email or don’t do it at all. Have your out of office on and actually stick to it.
Look at the top spots. Do an online search of the best local eateries via websites like Thrillest. See where tourists usually go on sites like TripAdvisor.
See what’s new. You likely have a local newspaper or community website that talks about new spots. There could be businesses that opened this summer, thinking there would be a summer rush. Head to those spots now. They are brand new to your kids and they need your support.
Ask for input from your family. You don’t have to do this alone. Your kids will have ideas. Maybe they heard about something from their friends. Maybe they have a new skill they want to learn. See how you can integrate their ideas into what you do on your staycation.
So, is it time for a staycation? What do you plan on doing? Have you had a great experience doing a staycation? I’d love to hear about your staycation dos and don’ts in the comments.
Want to read more practical tips to help you maximize your time as a working mom, whether during the summer or the rest of the school year? Check out the award-winning Mompowerment Guide to Work-life Balance (affiliate link), available on Amazon.
1 https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/the_surprising_benefits_of_stress
3Unfinished Business by Anne-Marie Slaughter page 71
4http://traveltips.usatoday.com/benefits-taking-vacation-1755.html
