DOING Things

It's Staycation time!

I've been counting down to this day for months now, and I'm so excited that it's finally here! Which day, you might ask? June 10th. That's which day. The first day of Summer - The Time I Am Not Required To Work for Two Months.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I am pretty Type A. (According to my little brother, I am extremely Type A. What are you trying to say, dude? Anyway...) What this usually translates into is a constant state of stress brought on by the unrelenting feeling that I should be DOING something, and that something needs to be done immediately. 

The first time I tried to take a day off from everything was incredibly difficult. It was a Spring Break a couple of years ago. I decided that I would spend Sunday, that first Sunday, doing no work all day. To most people, this would probably sound wonderful. But for me, the thought of doing no work at all for an entire day made me feel like this:

What the heck am I going to DO all day?

I had no idea what to do with myself. In fact, I spent the three days prior to my vacation day stressing out about how I was going to spend it. I couldn't imagine a day without work.

Fortunately, I got over that and spent the day laying on the couch, painting my nails and reading. It was lovely.

Almost as good as this.

When I took my two-week staycation a few years ago (the one that started this blog), I was so stressed about what I would do for my two weeks that I actually googled "what to do on a staycation" and made a list. And last night, the first official night of this summer's staycation, I had a brief moment where I thought, Oh my gosh am I bored already? May I should have decided to work...

But I quickly came to my senses and went to Dairy Queen to get a Chocolate Extreme Blizzard.

As I was eating my amazing dessert, I got to thinking. What is this obsession with busyness? Why is it so necessary for me to be DOING something every minute? Every staycation has started out with a stressed-out attempt to find something productive or cool-sounding or just plain "busy" to do. And it isn't just me - everyone who asks me if school is over yet subsequently wants to know what I'm going to DO this summer. My first response is usually, "Sleep. A lot." Their subsequent question is, "But do you have any plans? Are you going to go anywhere? What are you going to DO?" I can't fault them for asking. It's a very good question. But it seems to come from the same obsessive place that my anxieties stem from - I can't spend my time just being. I have to DO all the time.

But the thing is, DOING is what causes my anxiety in the first place. Rather than spending this summer DOING things every minute, I need to get back to the place of peace - a place where I can just be. Over Memorial Day weekend, I resolved not to do any work. Instead, I slept in every day. I got out of bed when I felt like it. I took a nap every afternoon. I played with my 8-month-old niece (who is SUPER adorable!) every day. I watched corny Hallmark channel chick flicks with my mom and sister-in-law. And amazingly, slowly but surely, the spinning in my head finally slowed to a stop.

So this summer, my goal is not to DO anything. I'll do things. But not DO things. The goal of the summer is to just be. And enjoy it. No travel, no work, no stress.

And ice cream. Definitely ice cream.

So far, summer is delicious.

Mmmmmmm.

First Image courtesy of David Castillo Dominici / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Second Image courtesy of photostock / FreeDigitalPhotos.net