Planning Staycation? Preplanning.

I have been craving some alone time to study, reflect my career and plan for the future and to just be “away” in another environment where I could relax and chill out. For me, exotic locations or cabins in the woods isn’t my desire or style. I mean, cabin in the woods, can you say, bugs! Ewe!

I really and truly just like to stay home but I also wanted to challenge myself to explore some different places locally so I could further see what’s in my backyard and if I’d like to do more of that sort of thing in the future.

Of note, there are two types of retreat, solo and with a group, okay there may be three for those of with addictions but I’m not talking about that. But I’m sure they are VERY beneficial too.

I’m going to be talking only about a solo retreat. Another note, there are many retreats that are not accessible to users with different needs. There’s always hiking or a group exercise that requires physical ability or engagement of some sort, so if you are a planner of a retreat, consider adding ways and thinking through slight variations you could do to make retreats more accessible to people with disabilities. There may be one retreat that’s completely accessible but I’ve looked and have not found it yet. Let me know if you have, I’d love to hear about it.

Some of the first things I needed to evaluate before I could determine what I’d be doing, was to:

Clarify My End Goals – First, I was thinking about this thing and I had some questions to answer:

The number reason for this for me, was clarity, some relaxation and planning. Yes, in the back of my mind I had more tangible goals but I just needed a break and regardless of what happened, I had to have a BREAK and in that I believed other things would come about with intention of course.

Relax

Write (Plan) and Braindump

Review (reflect) / Catch Up

Pray

I mentioned the relaxation, is there really anything that can be said against this? I don’t think so.

Write – I write all the time but I wasn’t going to be thinking about novels and blogs (if they happen to come along, which is likely, I will write them down to visit them later). I was going to do some soul/ journal writing to reflect, brain dump, think about past and future.

Review – I am a class addict, but I sign up for so many things, I picked two or so classes to finish. Since I’m subscribed, I can do them at my leisure but my leisure never comes, so I wanted to finish some by making a more conscious effort, because the other reason for finishing is that it will also provide some input into the writing. There were also some videos about career planning I had bookmarked and I needed to finish watching them or re-watch them.

Prayer really should be first, of course praying before I do most any and everything is already a part of my life, I put it at the end in this instance because I wanted to pray at the end of creating all these plans. Challenge yourself to find and then memorize scriptures that go along with whatever you’ve set. Doing this extra step can reaffirm and help bring additional clarity.

Pray that plans are in line with the Lord’s plan for you (God’s will).

Pray that you’ll have stamina and strength to finish what you’ve set out to do.

Pray that the right people will come along side you to help you, give you resources/tools and guide you, provide coaching or a hand up

Pray that you can let things go as you think and gain clarity about different directions that you’re deciding you no longer want.

What is the duration of all this/length of time

Ideally, a week would be great and I do plan to do that in the near future. But face it, I work full time, I’m an advocate of Mental Health Days – (code for, I take off at whim just to chill -I am finding I do more of this as I age and as my disability progresses) and thus because of the normal MH days I take and because I would be taking my leave. So, I decided on THREE consecutive business days and then I’d have Saturday (picking one where I have no events) to do the catch up on rest/sleep.

Staycations imply no real spending, but you know I decided that part of my staycation would be spent at:

A park or museum (I’m not outdoorsy at all, but a place on the water sitting at a picnic table just for an hour or two is fun)

A nice lunch out – maybe make a picnic lunch and take it to park above

Maybe a facial at a spa or mani/pedi

Expenses are relatively simple. Some of us are so grateful for the little things and you may need a few bucks to visit/pay admission to local sights, enjoy a movie alone, eat your favorite lunch and even things like getting a manicure/pedicure to treat yourself if you don’t do these things on a regular basis.

It’s easy to stay home, but honestly, I wanted out, out. I LOVE staying home more than anything in the world because all of my mobility equipment that I need, is there. But I also wanted this to be a real retreat. Retreat doesn’t always have to be had at home so I pushed myself to do some things outside/away from my home. The places I mentioned above – especially a visit to the park, flower garden, etc.

I know I mentioned the goals at the beginning, but more tangible results from that, are:

I will feel a little more Revitalized

I will Release old projects that are no longer in line with my goals or release ideas running around in my head so I don’t have to carry them around

I will Plan out some books (maybe) – or through the brain dump get ideas out of my head/heart to clear mental clutter (also part “release”)

I will gain Clarity about the direction I’m going

So, take some time out to think about these ideas and steps you can take. What kind of planning do you do for your own goals and future projects? How do you do that? What do you use? How do you enjoy yourself and what are your ways to relax?

Start now to make all that good stuff, happen and return next week to learn the rest of the Staycation process as well as some helpful resources.