Family Vacation: The Epitome of an Oxymoron
If you are a mother, I am sure I do not need to explain this. Going on vacation with 2 or 3 or 4 kids means extra packing of not only clothes but stuff to keep them entertained, and especially quiet on the flight or drive, extra planning if you have to work naps into your sight-seeing schedules, extra vigilance if you are near animals, cliffs, or the sea. Oh how I long for the days of warm sand between my toes while reading a novel, but with kids your eyes are forever scanning the shoreline and counting heads.
Where does the relaxation come in when vacationing with the family?
Well this year, I am being proactive. Yes, I have to pack and plan and be vigilant, and yes, I am going to do all the things my husband wants to do like visit military forts, and yes, I am going to do all the things my kids want to do like visit the dinosaur museum and the shopping mall, AND I am planning on a little something extra. When we go for a hike into the Rocky Mountains, I am going to teach my family to meditate…. Muahahah!
If there is anything I have learned along the way, and one big lesson I try to convey to all my clients, is that it’s all in the perspective. You can see the glass as half-full or half empty, or you can see the glass as completely full with both water and air!
So I will not be sipping on fancy drinks with umbrellas in coconut cups, and I will not be waited on hand and foot by a Grecian god in a Speedo, but I will be with the people I love the most in the world. And I will have to give a little and visit sights I wouldn’t choose if I were on my own, but their happiness is worth it.
You can see going away with your family as a chore, or you can see it as an opportunity to view life through their eyes, to learn new things about the world from their angle. You can jump into the joy of being a kid again, because that is definitely a change from the daily grind. And you can do like I am doing, plan to inject a little piece of your own heaven and share it with the people you love.
I am thoroughly enjoying my time off with my family, and I am also very excited about coming home to launch the Time-out for Mom Program. Be sure to sign-up early because spaces are limited for this inaugural launch.
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