The Present of Being Present

On Staycations, Mindfulness, and Summertime Rest

The Dog Days of Summer Are Upon Us

And boy howdy, are they the doldrums. 

Here in Florida, it’s hot.  Like, biblically hot.  Inside, outside, everywhere feels like a sauna.  It rains once or twice a day, so it’s permanently sticky to boot. 

It’s also mosquito season. 

With a UV index potent enough to scare the sunblock and the sweat right off your skin, it’s easy to burn out on the summertime experience.   

By this point in July, most vacations have come and gone.  They now live in your camera roll.  Your day to day life is back to normal, work and all.  A season that is typically associated with fun, travel, excitement, and a lot of high energy suddenly grinds to a halt – and with it, your sanity.

It’s also past the year’s hump day, and the craziness of your fall and winter calendar is already starting to stare you down.  If you think too long about it, you can already feel the exhaustion.   Where has the year gone?

Pause.

Feeling the anxiety creep in already? (Uninvited, you might add.)

Same here.

Just because your summer vacation is now a memory doesn’t mean that you don’t deserve to enjoy the rest of your summer or to savor moments of rest in your summer. 

It is the opinion of this author that there are, in fact, no better days to rest and recover than the dog days of summer.  Much like the coldest days of winter, the extremeness of the weather almost demands that you rest.  Take the opportunity to restore yourself – there is no better time. 

“But I’m Not On Vacation!”

Vacation does not have a monopoly on rest.  Ever catch yourself saying “I need a vacation from my vacation!” when you return from holiday?  Sometimes, vacations are more like jam-packed adventures than good ol’ R&R. 

So, what does rest look like outside of vacation?

Staycations

Simply put, a staycation is a vacation you take at home.  People love these for a few reasons:

• Effortless rest
• No travel hassle
• Comfort & familiarity of home
• Budget-friendly
• No jetlag

Block out a day, or a whole weekend, and plan it like any other vacation.  Do you want to take yourself out to dinner at a new place you’ve been eyeing?  Maybe it’s time to book a massage.  Or, maybe you make absolutely no plans and allow yourself to follow what feels good: couch potato time, adventure time, whatever floats your boat. 

The catch with staycations is that all of your life is still right there.  The laundry, the dishes, the office… so you’ll need to plan accordingly!

Set and stick to your own boundaries surrounding work.  Yes, that includes housework.  

Those boundaries are going to look different for every individual, but consider what chores you will/won’t allow yourself to get into, what day job tasks you will/won’t take care of, and what your boundaries around being reachable are.  Maybe you’re overdue for a phoneless weekend.  Decide ahead of time so you can fully settle into the vacation mindset at home. 

Daily Mindfulness

Before your schedule goes full-blown mad, consider developing a daily mindfulness practice.  Sounds a little woo-woo, sure, but practicing mindfulness helps keep you grounded, regulated, and better able to adapt to change (including changes of pace).  It’s the rest your mind has really been craving.

Here’s what your practice could look like:

• Gratitude journaling
• A 5-minute meditation
• Prayer
• Stretching
• Evening (or morning) walks
• A daily dance break
• Crafting – without distractions like the TV or your phone
• Basking in the sun (please wear sunscreen!)
• Gardening

Practicing mindfulness doesn’t need to overrun your day or look any specific way.  The idea is just to build rest into your day to day life.  Many folks like to do this at the start or end of their days, while others like to pause mid-day and use it as an opportunity to reset. 

You also don’t have to stick to any one activity!  The goal is to be quiet with yourself, your mind, and your body.  It’s a self care staycation for the soul, and it’s really good at managing long term stress. 

Learning to Be Present

Big acts of rest, like vacations and staycations, help reset overwhelm and remind you what all that work was for anyway. 

But sometimes, it’s hard to get your mind on the same page.  You can go overseas for vacation and still spend the whole week thinking about work.  Basically, you can take the brain out of the office, but you can’t take the office out of the brain.  Not as restful as you would’ve hoped, I’m sure. 

Little acts of rest, however, train you to be able to enjoy the big acts of rest while tempering the stress you accrue in your day to day life. 

It’s called learning to be present.

This probably isn’t a foreign concept to you, but it might be a foreign practice.

What’s Being Present Mean?

Being present is about immersion – allowing the moment and everything that composes it to engulf your mind, body, and senses.

When you talk to a friend, are you simply processing their words and giving half-baked responses while thinking about everything on your to-do list?  Or are you registering their tone of voice, picking up on the things they aren’t saying, asking questions, and noticing the little things? 

When you sit down for dinner, are you scarfing it down, phone in hand?  Or are you taking the time to smell the mouthwatering aroma of the spices, chewing like every bite is a precious experience, and savoring the opportunity to nourish your surprisingly hungry body after a long day? 

Stop reading, and sit with yourself for 30 seconds.  How does your body feel?  Tense, relaxed, heavy, light, hungry, thirsty, in need of a stretch?  And how does your mind feel?  What do you notice when you give yourself the chance to notice it?

This, friend, is what it means to be present. 

Benefits of Small Acts of Presence

You’ve heard the saying “yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift… that is why it is called the present” before.

What good is a gift you don’t know how to accept?

If you are to enjoy today, tomorrow, and all that the future holds, you must be ready to receive it.

Life’s most precious gifts are often wrapped in its smallest moments.  The sound of waves breaking on the beach, the feeling of sun on your skin, the singing of birds when you step outside, the way your loved ones laugh… if your mind is elsewhere, it cannot receive these beautiful presents.  After all, they require being present. 

By choosing to practice being present a little every day, you’ll learn how to properly enjoy rest and joy when you find it – both on the big vacations and in the nooks and crannies of your daily life.

So savor your dog days of summer!  The sun’s warmth, the sound of rain on your roof, and even the buzzing of insects that pollinate your garden are all, in their own way, gifts.  Enjoy the present of being present.