Summer travel plans may be canceled but that doesn’t mean you can’t get a little mid-year relief. A staycation is a great way to work your replenishment cycle and break the monotony from the safety and comfort of your own home. Below I’ve shared some ideas with you to get started. Give yourself permission to experience a little pleasure amidst all the stress of our time so you have the stamina to persevere through the remainder of the year.

But how does one relax in the middle of a pandemic?

This past month my family was desperate for a vacation after we hit the 100-day mark in quarantine. As mental healthcare professionals running a therapy practice, we are classified as “essential workers.” So we have been going non-stop since the start of the year. In order to continue providing quality care, we’ve had to find daily methods of managing our own anxieties while holding space for the increasing and unanswerable worries of our clients. But a daily self-care routine wasn’t enough. We needed a larger interruption and reset for the remainder of the year.

Enter our staycation.

Below I’ve shared some ideas you might find helpful as you plan your own staycation.

BUT FIRST…

Before you attempt to dive into any of the staycation ideas outlined below, take a moment to reset your expectations. We are living in the middle of a global tragedy and radical social reformation. There is no way to replicate a beachside resort vibe in the middle of our present circumstances. If you set out to do so, you’re going to be disappointed and that disillusionment might make you feel worse post-vacation than you did before it started. Instead of “have an epic vacation” change your expectations to “break out of the Groundhog’s Day routine.” This little shift makes all the difference.

Now onto the good stuff…

7 QUARANTINE STAYCATION IDEAS

1. TURN YOUR HOME INTO A RESORT

“Signal relaxation in your brain is by creating visual cues in your environment.

First set the scene. Aesthetics matter and one of the first ways you can signal relaxation in your brain is by creating visual cues in your environment that remind you of vacation. For our staycation, that meant thoroughly cleaning our home. Nothing triggers exhaustion more than a pile of paperwork or overflowing hampers. So I took care of cleaning our space so everything felt fresh and ready (complete with a candy bowl). For about $40 I also invested in the delivery of a ton of fresh cut flowers from Whole Foods to add a little beauty around our home. I turned on the diffuser with a purify essential oil blend and also set out a glass pitcher of spa water (ice, fresh mint, lime and a little apple was my favorite combo). These small touches helped us feel like we were strolling through the lobby of a hotel even while plopped down in the living room.

2. NIX NEEDLESS SCREEN TIME

Next, delete your social media apps for the duration of your staycation. If you’re anything like me, your screen time is absurdly high since COVID entered the equation. Nearly all of our connection is digital. The greatest gift you can give to yourself is to unplug and quiet the din of virtual social connection. So log out of Instagram and Facebook for a bit and push pause on the Zoom calls. Instead, dive into that book you’ve been meaning to read for months. If your brain is too muddled to make it through long-form writing, grab a few magazines and slowly read every article (even the kind that don’t immediately interest you). My brain felt so refreshed to consume information old school-style.

3. MAKE YOUR OWN SPA DAY

The Glow by Dehiya (also grab the mihakka tool) — The Glow by Dehiya (also grab the mihakka tool)

If someone can figure out how to get a facial while wearing a mask, let me know. I always look forward to a little spa treatment when I go on vacation because it’s an extravagance I typically don’t experience in my daily life. If you’re like me, a homemade spa is a nice second. Recreate your favorite spa vibes by ordering some luxury beauty products or just one special beauty treatment that’s economical but new to you. I happened to have a tube of Beauty Counter’s Charcoal Mask laying around that I had yet to fully use. So I took an evening to deep condition my hair, sit with the mask, and zone out with some chamomile tea to a soothing Spotify playlist. I also had some leftover argan oil beldi from Dehiya Beauty that I chose to use to wash my face throughout the week. These little treats felt special and self-indulgent.

4. HOST A MOVIE NIGHT

I’ve never met a popcorn bowl I didn’t love #TBH, and who doesn’t love Pixar? Our family decided to create our own home theater vibe by camping out in our living room with movie theater style buckets of freshly popped popcorn and watching old movies. We’re talking Toy Story (the original!), and more. Just remember everything is better with butter so this is not the time to go light on your popcorn toppings. You have my permission to cheat on your diet.

5. GET OUTSIDE AND FLEX YOUR GREEN THUMB

We’d been tinkering with the idea of starting a vegetable garden all spring. We’re not what you’d call “outdoorsy people” but our staycation was the perfect time to break out of our comfort zone and get started. With a few clicks we had all the pieces we needed to get our hands dirty by setting up raised planters in our backyard. While growing fruits and veggies will be a long-term project, the fun was all in talking about the kind of items we wanted to grow, ordering the seeds and dirt, and designing the layout with our little one.

6. START A FIRE

So it should be said that I’m more of a city girl than a suburban mama. We weren’t a bonfire family growing up. But this staycation, I couldn’t get the idea of s’mores out of my head. It should also be said that we live in Atlanta where the temperature is approximately 1000-degrees on an average June day. We didn’t let it stop us and lit the fire pit just before sundown. The first time was toasty, but my husband and I perfected the fire a few days later when we lit it around 11 p.m. and got some alone time in without our son.

7. GO FAUX CAMPING

I was never a summer camp kid but this year I got to live out my childhood fantasy of sleep-away camp. We built a fort in the living room using old sheets with my son taking the lead as chief architect. Then we grabbed some flashlights, storybooks and snacks to eat in our little cave. I don’t know if that’s what they do at camp, but in my mind this is the way it went down in 1989.

Now it’s your turn. What would your perfect staycation look like?

Need help building out a replenishment cycle? Consider booking a two-day LifePlan so we can work out the best rhythm that supports your life purpose. Book a consultation to get started.