From Sunsets to Self-Care: Finding Balance After Vacation 🌆🧘🏽‍♀️

If a professional vacationer exists, someone point me in the right direction please! 😎 Being away from home with no obligations & nothing set on my schedule is a beautiful thing, one that I thoroughly enjoyed last week. Giving myself permission to pause got my entire being right, but snapping back into the reality of adulthood was a gift & a curse. It opened my eyes to the importance of finding balance after vacation, & I know I need to tweak my plan a little. ⚖️ Here’s a recap of the lessons learned while my “real life” was on pause…

Q1 & Q2 of the Game of Finding Balance 😖

I’m super focused most of the time, meaning I constantly have something going on. Working 40+ hours per week on a full-time job, trying to get business affairs together, neverending appointments for That Lil Girl’s social life, & all the other things in between is exhausting. 😴 Let me tell you, my Intentional Adult Planner has gotten worked all year long. There’s not one day that didn’t have something pencilled in to complete each day. Got so bad I had to schedule lunch breaks so I wouldn’t overwork.

     Even with my trusty planner, I still felt like I was tearing my hair out at times because I was super stressed. I can easily take the title of Mrs. Yes because I tend to be too dependable & help people even at my own expense. 👑 I think 2024 has ripped the blinders off & allowed me to see clearly that I stay doing the most, but that’s not necessary. 

     The first quarter of 2024 is a blur. 😣 After we got back from our anniversary trip to the mountains, 2024 jumped me & all my loved ones. 🥊 You name it, it happened. Death ✔️, fallouts ✔️, sickness ✔️ (with hospitalizations I might add), empty money tree ✔️, household repairs ✔️, & who knows what else. Literally there was something each month of this year. 😒

     I try to get my self-care on with my daily morning & nighttime routines & quarterly trips away, but all of those were null & void when it came to matching energy. Refreshed energy & vibes from vacation were gone straight out the window as soon as I touched down back at home. Didn’t matter if it was our anniversary mountain trip or our group Cruise Camp. This year was YEAR’IN! 😤

Halftime Show of Finding Balance 🥁👯‍♀️

When I say I earned every minute of my vacation last week, I👏WORKED👏FOR👏IT👏! The countdown was on for sure to get to Mexico. When I finally got to that airport last Wednesday, I was torn between excitement & fatigue. Caught up with my cousin at the airport, & we were ready to roll…until we weren’t!

     Leave it to us to be on a broken plane! ✈️ 😒 I have major anxiety when it comes to flying. Only took one bad experience with turbulence (the plane dropped during a storm & it was a smaller type of plane), & I’ve gotten hella nervous when it’s time to get on a flight. Like palms sweaty, stomach spinning, & gotta close my eyes & zone out nervous. 

     So hyping myself up to get on the plane (with the help of a shot of Fireball) & actually take off without issues, only to fly around Charlotte & land back where we started had me with the for real side eye. Two hours & a different gate later, we were on a new plane & had a smooth flight. I didn’t even feel us landing. 🙌

     México welcomed us with open arms. Nice warm weather with a light breeze, a peek at the sun, & no set plans except the spa. 🧖🏽‍♀️ Our rooms were gorgeous, & I had a big ol bed to myself. We ate some amazing tacos, had some drinks, & explored the resort for a bit. When my head hit that pillow, I was out for about 9 hours. Clearly, I was exhausted.😴 

     We woke up to rain the next day, & it didn’t stop for longer than an hour until we were on the way home Sunday. ⛈️ Despite the not-so-great weather, I had a great time laughing with the group, eating everything in sight, drinking a ridiculous amount of adult juice, getting pampered at the spa, breaking out of an Escape Room while day drinking, & getting much needed rest. I was recharged & ready to kick off the last bit of Q4 of 2024.

Finding Balance in Q4 ⚖️

I always hate returning home after vacation. Not because I don’t like my house or the people who live there, but because I have to go back to being responsible. Not adulting for 5 days did my mind, body, & spirit good. 🧘🏽‍♀️ I came back motivated & ready to tackle my goals for the remainder of the year.

     The reality of having to go back to work was a gift & a curse. My job is enjoyable & we try to make it as fun as possible, but going back to setting an alarm & having responsibilities sucks. 👎 I didn’t really give myself time to transition back into “real life.” I came back running errands & getting That Lil Girl to practice.

     Being away during that vacation gave me time to really reflect & see things clearer. I’ve only been on a vacation where I was solo in the room once when we had our sister trip to Vegas. 🛏️ Otherwise, husbae, a sister, or a kid has been in the room with me. The peace & quiet plus most of the tv channels being in Spanish gave me time to make myself relax & rest. 

     I took my Intentional Journal with me, per usual. The quiet time gave me a lot of time to reflect on the year & what I want in the future. I definitely know I need to prioritize resting way more. I venture into burnout land a little too often, so I need to get a handle on it before I set foot in that territory. 🚶🏽‍♀️ I rarely sleep more than 6 hours, so sleeping 9 that first night on vacation said a lot. Mainly, I need to do better with self-care.

     I got to reflect on how blessed I am. Blessed to be able to get a passport & venture around the world. 🌏 Blessed to have a husband that doesn’t have a problem with working all day & still coming home to single-handedly take care of That Lil Girl & the dog. 🤵🏾‍♂️ Blessed to have cousins & new cousin-homies to enjoy good food & lots of laughs with. 🥰 Blessed to have traveled out of the country & back safely & healthy. 🛬 Blessed to see how much more we as Americans have that we take for granted. 🙏 Just all around blessed!

     Between reviewing my to-do list & starting with a mindset business therapist/coach this week, I know some of the things I need to work on:

1. Not taking on too much 🎒: I can’t do everything all the time. As busy as my brain stays, there’s not enough hours in the day for my body to keep up with it all. Yes I have things that need to get done, but yes it’s also ok that it all doesn’t get done by my deadlines. Unless there’s a deadline someone else has set for me, I can flex my deadlines as needed. It’s not the end of the world!
2. Revamping my priorities 🏆: Everything can’t be prioritized. Matter of fact, nothing should be prioritized more than my health on any level. If I’m not at 100%, then I won’t be at my best physically & mentally. I’m going to have to pause some things & ask for help with others.
3. Sometimes no agenda is the best agenda 🗓️: I had the best time not having to be anywhere at a certain time on vacation. The only things with time constraints were appointments that were considered a form of self-care: spa appointment, dinner reservations, Escape Room slot, & flights. It was stress-free (aside from flight anxiety). I should do that more often at home too.

     There’s a recipe to balance, & I’m still learning to perfect it. Sometimes the result is sweet, while other times it’s lacking something. 🧁 However, nothing is perfect or will always work out the way you expect it to. Regardless, make sure you find your balance so you don’t burnout. 🔥