The Art of Doing Nothing: 3 Ways to Get Away From it All Mentally

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My holiday vacation this year was delayed and on a tight budget, but that didn't stop us from having fun! Instead of going somewhere exotic, we went up to Winter Park, CO and did some relaxing in the snow. We had a wonderful time snowshoeing, night skiing, finding local breweries, soaking in the hot tub, and enjoying the all-around beautiful scenery. My boyfriend, however, admitted to "not being very good at doing nothing" and I think that is true for most of us today with all of our electronics and over-worked lifestyles. What can you do to get your brain to relax?
  1. Don't do the ordinary
    • When you have time to recharge after a long day, what do you usually do? Grab a drink for a chemical way to loosen up? Turn on the TV to have noise as a distraction? We seem to gravitate to these and other means without even thinking. On vacation, days (rather than hours) can slip by without notice so be aware of your automatic tendencies and do anything to simply NOT do those things.
  2. Revel in the boredom
    • Being unplugged and on vacation means we are without the constant hum of electronics, the *ping* of new social and email notifications, and nagging pets, kids, or coworkers. There isn't something or someone begging for our attention and we aren't trying to multitask during every minute. This silence may feel, well, unnatural after only a few minutes! Learn to embrace it and just sit and stare at the fire flickering or the waves crashing.
  3. Use all of your senses 
    • Vacation is meant to relax your mind and your body. Make sure every sense gets to do something it doesn't do on a regular basis. Try a new food or splurge on the calorie-killing cheeseburger. Do a sport like night skiing or snowmobiling for the muscles you never knew you had. See and smell something new or even sex up something old in a new way. Why not?
In reality, on our mountain vacation we were less than 2 hours away from home, with cell service the whole time, and even stayed current (even ahead of our Tivo friends) by watching the playoffs live. I think we had a healthy mixture of playing and relaxing in the short weekend. How was your last vacation? Where did you go and what did you do to relax?


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A consultant in the software sector, I love to write about the challenges and opportunities that I run across on a daily basis with clients, colleagues, and even friends. There's inspirational lessons to be applied to business practices everywhere!

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So if you want to be happy at work like I am, then thanks for being a reader! I am a consultant that travels constantly and is always working with new people. I love what I do! I'm formally trained with an MBA and BS Engineering. At home and in my free time, I like to drink beer, travel, garden, read, hike with my dog, and play board games.

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