This week, on November 3rd, the world acknowledged International Stress Awareness Day – a day to increase awareness of the impact of stress on our bodies and mental health, and to continue to educate and learn ways to decrease its negative impact.
The Canadian Institute of Stress reports that those who take time daily to “be good to yourself” decrease their stress by almost half. Wow! So what do you do during your day to help with stress levels?
Wouldn’t going on vacation every day be nice?
It sounds unrealistic… but we’re not talking about a trip that requires an expensive plane ticket, a hotel or an itinerary.
We’re talking about a daily mini-vacation… a moment in your day that you set aside to do something purely out of leisure and enjoyment. For most people, we wait weeks and months for this to happen. We work through long, stressful days, counting down the moments until we can do something extraordinary. What kind of life is that, always counting the days away until something better comes along?
That’s why we’re encouraging you to take a daily mini-vacation. With just 20-30 minutes, you can enjoy the same happiness, enjoyment, and leisure that you do while you’re on a REAL vacation. Here’s how:
- Schedule the time. Vacations are positive for our mental and physical health; they prevent burnout, boost happiness, and refresh us. But like anything, we need to make the time and be consistent. Set aside time in your day for your mini-vacation and be realistic about it. 20 minutes is manageable, and just enough to give you that little boost of energy.
- Get rid of the distractions. Vacations seem so rejuvenating because we don’t have any distractions; we usually don’t keep our phone or computer on us. Try to remove any of these distractions during your 20 minutes.
- Do what you love. Your daily mini-vacation doesn’t have to be extravagant. Do you love coffee? Check out a local coffee shop. What about being outdoors? Seek out a new trail. Is there a book you’ve been meaning to read? Set time aside to finally open it’s pages. Your mini-vacation is whatever brings you the most joy. For us, that’s doing something different than our usual day-to-day routine… something that we can look forward to.
Daily mini-vacations take effort and consistency to stick to, but it’s time you prioritize your happiness and well-being… and it only takes 20 minutes a day!
