Tag Archives: relaxation

Decompression time

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First day back from my holiday started great. Woke up, met my buddy and went to the gym for the first time in 12 days. Had a great workout then he treated me to breakfast at his place. Then I had a couple appointments. I met my new doctor for the first time (my previous one is retiring), and I had a physio appointment.

And that made for a full day. Besides that I had a very long nap, and listened to my book. I then watched a bit of tv with my wife. All-in-all a great day. What really made it feel good was just having the time to flake out after a busy morning. No agenda, nothing pressing, no hurry, no worries. Just a good dose of decompression time.

Tomorrow I’ll do the Coquitlam Crunch walk after taking a month off. I hadn’t missed a month since my buddy and I started doing this in January 2021. But my lower back/discs has settled down and I’m not getting any nerve pain down my leg anymore. I’ve done a few completely painless walks, including one that had a bit of a climb during my holiday and so I think I’m ready, and my physio thinks so too.

It wasn’t just today that was about decompression time, it had been almost two weeks of it, and I’m feeling really good. It’s taken me 58 years to figure it out, but a little down time isn’t just good for the mind, it’s good for the body too.

It takes time to unwind

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It might have been slowed down a bit due to having a cold, but it has taken me a while to unwind this holiday. I always take a short while to get used to holiday mode, and not feel guilty for having a quiet day where I don’t do much.

Today I didn’t do much of anything. I spent a bit of the morning feeling guilty about not getting a workout in, and then late this afternoon I finally felt it… I felt unwound enough to just relax and enjoy doing a little bit of nothing.

The big plans for tomorrow are to head to a beach and rent some bikes to ride on the boardwalk. A busy day compared to today, but also, how chill is that for a day plan?

Now the holiday really begins. Now it becomes guilt free listening to a an audiobook for over an hour. I can just chill, and not feel like I should be doing something else. I can sip my morning coffee in the sunshine and feel like no matter what the day brings, it will be a good day.

I don’t have to fill time, I can just appreciate what I’m doing, while I do it… even if the thing I’m doing is nothing.

The power of rest

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A few days ago I felt a tickle in my throat. I have no idea if it’s just a placebo or if it actually helps, but when I feel a sore throat coming on, I start sucking chewable vitamin C likes they are throat lozenges and it seems to help. But this time I did something else, I spent the weekend napping and relaxing.

This has to be the most amount of time I’ve spent doing almost nothing in years. It was in no way a typical weekend. I had two 2+hour naps, and I spend most of the last 2 days horizontal. And I think I’m almost ready for bed. Normally a day like that would leave me wired before bed and unable to sleep. But my body needed the rest and I feel like I’ll fall asleep easily tonight.

The difference compared to other times like this is that this time I actually listened to my body. For so long I’ve tried to muscle through feeling run down. But this weekend I took my vitamins, I ate when I was hungry, and I rested. I usually do anywhere from 7,000 to 12,000 steps in a day. According to my watch, I took 713 steps today. If this was a regular thing, it would probably be a problem… but this is exactly what I needed, and I’m feeling good that I actually listened to my body and took the rest it required.

I’m ready to return to my full routine in high gear tomorrow!

Batteries recharged

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Tomorrow is the last day of our winter break and I have to say that I feel fully ready to get back to work. January is probably my busiest month and if I’m honest, I was not looking forward to starting back after the break.

And now I’m ready.

I can’t say that I fully shut down, but I did so far more than usual, and I think that’s part of the reason I feel so recharged. It’s a little unfortunate that I’m figuring this out so late in my career. For example, I didn’t ignore email, but I realized that there really isn’t much that can’t wait for a response this coming Monday or Tuesday. So I let it go. Earlier in my career I would have felt compelled to respond right away, often unintentionally inviting another email and more work… when the need for a response was not urgent.

Both ‘letting go’ and ‘turning off’ are cathartic, refuelling. Understanding that not just my body but my brain also needs a break is the reason I’m ready.

But first, I have one more Sunday to enjoy.

I’m heading home

It’s almost noon and I’m sitting poolside, but in the shade. I had a shower and really don’t want to lather up with sunscreen when I’m going to be taking a cab to the airport in just over an hour. After writing this I’ll put my audio spy novel back on for 20 minutes before heading to a shack restaurant in the strip of restaurants and shops across the street. I’ll order one more delicious breakfast burrito and savour it.

I usually prefer more active holidays, rather than planning my day between pool chairs and meals, but I have say that this was a fabulous trip! I was with great people, and my wife and I had more quality time together than we’ve had in quite some time. It’s easy at home to get busy and live side-by-side lives, without spending enough quality time together. It sometimes takes a holiday to really enjoy each other’s company and not just spend time planning the next thing, the next meal, the next shopping list, the next… and the next, and the next ‘thing’ we need to do.

I’m heading home today, but I hope to be able to find some chill time at home that keeps this holiday-time feeling going, ‘small slices of relaxation every day’ or ‘holidays in a cup’. I won’t have this gorgeous poolside view, but I can still find moments, slices, and tiny tastes of holiday every day.

Extra down time

It’s Sunday night and tomorrow is a holiday. I will be doing pushups for a monthly challenge, and meditating before bed, but I will be skipping my cardio workout today. No guilt, I’ve worked out every day since my last workout missed on January 27th, and I’m not up to getting my heart rate up before bed.

I feel like the Sunday of a long weekend is a very special kind of down time. A day like today was spent being productive, doing things that I like to do but seldom have time. I also got laundry done and it didn’t feel like a chore. I also just finished watching a couple episodes of a show my wife and I have been watching together.

…And I still have another whole day off! It seems like every long weekend I’ve been writing about how much I value 3 days off. It makes me wonder if we will ever see a shift away from the traditional Monday to Friday work week?

Even if it does change, education will probably be a last bastion of the 5-day week. Until it’s normal for everyone, kids need supervision during the work day. So from now until I retire you can expect a little social commentary on the joys of a three day weekend almost every time they come up.

Last lazy day

Well today I did a whole lot of nothing. I came down to the basement do a workout 3 hours ago, and I have successfully completed a 10 minute row, less than 10 minutes of stretching, and an abdominal workout that lasted the length of a 2 minute and 40 second song. Hey, this might not be a typical workout… but I didn’t skip the day. Not every workout needs to be at 100%.

I listened to a part of a podcast, watched a few TikToks, and I’m writing this lying on my back next to a magnetic toy where I successfully made a couple DNA strands out of triangles. 

I’ve spoken about playing with geometry before, this ‘playing’ was the most productive part of my day.

Tomorrow is Day 1 of the new school year and the pace for the next month will be anything but lazy. So, I look at my 3 hours of ‘wasted’ time as time very well wasted. Today was the calm before the storm. Batteries are charging, and I’m taking full advantage of my last lazy day, not even caring that I’m mixing my metaphors. 🤪

Now off to pick up pizza, ain’t no way my wife and I are cooking tonight! 😀

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To all the educators out there, I wish you a fabulous year of teaching and learning ahead!

Flaked out

Who else just flakes out at the end of the school year?

At least I didn’t get sick. That sometimes happens… I reach Christmas break, March break, or summer, and my body crashes.

After work Friday we hopped on a ferry to visit my in-laws and oldest daughter on Vancouver Island. We were there for a little over 24 hours and then back home last night. Today I started with my Coquitlam Crunch walk, and that was the extent of any physical effort I put into the day. Its also a great opportunity to connect with a friend.

After I came home I had a hot tub, and a nap. I cooked stakes for dinner. I’m on the couch with my wife watching Jury Duty.

It’s 11pm and I’m finally writing my post, and I still need to meditate. I’ll hit my targets… and that’s it. That’s enough… A typical start to a holiday. A good flake out day.

4-day weekend

I’m looking forward to the Easter Break! Having both the Friday and Monday off is a treat. A 3-day weekend is nice, but getting that extra days makes this break special. It becomes a ‘real’ break where I know that I can actually let go of thinking about work. It allows true down time.

I find that a 4th day makes the break into a real holiday… and I can come back to work refreshed. I’d give up my second week of holidays at Christmas so that I could get a few more 4-day weekends throughout the year. I’m not sure that would be popular with everyone, but it would be ideal for me… Mini holidays throughout the year! Am I the only one that thinks this is a good idea?