While on vacation your body was busy but your mind was relaxed.  You ate good food, reunited with family, saw new places, recorded new memories.

Then it stopped.

And, oh, how well I know the feeling that followed…

You squeeze yourself into a Lilliputian airline seat, spend the day alternately chilled or overheated on the plane, then run into that stranger with the bad attitude.

If you’re lucky, your vacation heart is revived over the next day or two as you recount your adventures to anyone who will listen.  But the inevitable awaits.

Work piled up in your absence.  There are phone calls to return.  Bills to be paid.  The calendar is full of appointments.  And worst of all, for me anyway, I walk into the kitchen expecting dinner only to find I’m the one who must cook it first!

Vacation is truly over.

My first evening home, Mom was thanking me and apologizing that I had to cook.  No worries.  I reminded her she had cooked and cleaned well into her eighties.  We ended up laughing, but it made me think… another 20-ish years of kitchen duty?  Not even a remotely vacation-y thought.

When I’m away from my daily routine, my mind opens up.  Old dreams resurface.  New ideas pop.  Resolution to problems become clearer once I’ve gained some distance.  Some perspective.

Breathing room does that for you.

So how do I connect my refreshed mind to the every day normal?

I’ve got three ideas to keep some breathing room tucked inside my vacation heart….

1. Make a huge list – – as big as the North Carolina beach I recently walked on.  I’m listing every thing I want to do, every place I want to go, every habit I want to change.  From the simplest task of hanging pictures on the wall, planting new flower baskets on the deck, to where I’d like to live 5 or 10 years down the road… it all goes on the list.  Even the not-so-fun things.  They need to get done too.
2. Move those items into loose categories – – things that must be achieved and things I would like to achieve.  Things that can be done right now, next month, next year or further down the line.
3. Then, I’ve got to break it down to practical steps I can do each day… like creating a weekly menu plan to deal with that 20 years of kitchen duty.  I used to do that when my kids were growing up.  Why not now?  I suspect it will eliminate a lot of late afternoon aggravation.

These three points are simplistic, I know.  And there are some great goal-setting strategies available.  This is just a way to start.  Something to build on for one who’s been a bit too undisciplined for a little too long.

While on vacation we discussed the possibility of a large family vacation in a year, maybe two.  Coordinating the schedules of 10 adults and 7 children is daunting.  It might not be possible.  For sure it won’t be possible if not researched and discussed.  An item for the list.

I want need to loose a few  many pounds.  But that won’t happen without a plan and commitment.  It won’t happen until I decide to hold on to that breathing space in my heart, my soul, my physical life.  It for sure won’t happen until I say,

Step away from the pie and into your walking shoes!

Here I go.