5 Ways to Recharge Without Going on Vacation

Now more than ever, because of the pandemic, we need some time off – to be precise, a vacation. For most of us, that’s not quite possible right now. I am currently living abroad and not only can’t I go on vacation but I also cannot go home to visit my family.

A vacation becomes a need when we feel stuck. This can be interpreted in both the literal and figurative sense – since we are all indoors, we are practically ‘stuck’ but you can also feel stuck when you just have no motivation to do anything. When we are in this little world, everything just feels like a chore. Making food, working, showering and even just getting out of bed. I know the feeling way too well and over the years, I have managed to find a way out of it without actually going on vacation.

Vacations help us clear our mind, make us genuinely feel good and sometimes change the way we see things around us. However, the truth of the matter is that vacations aren’t the only way out. There are plenty of overlooked ways to help you recharge and feel motivated again and these are some of the activities that have helped me especially during this dire time and they will definitely help you too…

1 | Read a book and complete it

I know reading isn’t for all of us but hear me out – audio books! I have a very short attention span so I cannot read a hardcopy or even a digital book for longer than 5 minutes. But ever since I decided to check out audio books (Apple books and Audible), ‘reading’ has become so much easier and actually fun. It’s all I ever do now. So, if you are just like me, you might want to listen to the author or a narrator read it out for you.

Reading a book and actually completing it is definitely a good way to recharge especially if the book is about self-development and helps you see things around you in a different lens or a book that will educate you on something that is related to your goal. You will feel good and positive after completing the whole book.

2 | Create a challenge or a short goal for yourself

Don’t go for something that will be hard for you to do consistently or hard to achieve. Set a challenge or goal that will excite you, something that you have been wanting to do or work on. In 2017, I created a Self-Care challenge for myself and doing that helped boost my self-esteem and helped me understand the importance of self-love and you can check it out here too.

When setting a short goal for yourself, make it something you can do in like a week or 2. Think about what your general life goals and do at least one thing that will help you get there. For instance, if you are planning on opening your own bakery one day, spend a week or 2 planning out how your branding will look like. What colors do you want people to associate your store with? Look up color psychology to help you figure out what vibes you want to be associated with.

3 | Start journaling

How does journaling work when it comes to recharging? Writing down your thoughts, feelings and ideas helps you put things into perspective for yourself and helps you let go of what is bothering you. If journaling doesn’t sound like your thing, try it out first. Start off by using prompts, ask yourself triggering questions that will require you to think and reconsider everything you do, say and entertain.

Here are a few questions to help you start off…

• What kind of person do you want to become?
• What is the greatest lesson you learnt as a child?
• What do you need to let go of to live the life you want to live?
• What does self-care mean to you? Do you practice it often enough?

Once you get comfortable with questioning yourself, you will get to know yourself better and gradually feel a huge weight lifted off your shoulders just from self-development.

R E L A T E D | 6 Must-Have Journals

4 | Stay over at a friend’s house

Staying over at your friend’s house is possibly the closest you will get to a vacation in terms of actually traveling. Even if you don’t have anything in particular planned, merely being with a friend whose company you enjoy can lighten up your mood and refresh your mind.

If you do decide to do something with them, you could order in, binge on a new series together and have deep meaningful conversations. Nothing beats that combo, probably because it also just requires much but a friend with good energy. Observe how you feel after being with a friend and that will help you figure out if they are good for your energy or not. However, a good friend will have you feeling good and ready for the next day.

5 | Be one with nature

Okay listen, I am quite aware that some people do find it a bit odd to be out in the woods or taking a long stroll around their neighborhood by themselves. However, you should know by now that my blog caters to people who are ‘budding regardless’ – people who do want to create a better and simple life for themselves, people who want to stop judging themselves, people who want to grow despite their doubts and lack of support holding them back. So trust me when I say, if you want to refresh your mind, clear your thoughts and become more creative and motivated, you have to get used to taking walks alone.

To motivate you even more, download an app that can track your steps, distance, pace, time and/or calories burnt. It’s not to put pressure on you but it will also make you feel accomplished when you get home and see how far you went and how many calories you burnt. During your walk, you can listen to music, podcasts or nothing but the sounds of nature or even the cars passing by. You can focus on just being observant.

If you are taking a morning walk, set your intentions for the day, think about how you are going to handle any situation during the day. If you are taking on in the evening, reflect on the day, rate how good it was not how bad it was, think of one tiny tiny thing you are grateful for that made you happy or laugh.

Up to this day, I still cannot think of one thing that is more important that prioritizing ourselves – self-love (emotional and sexual), self-care (mental and physical) and self-development (spiritual). When you take care of yourself, you do better. Observe how your mind, body and soul feels. Think about what need nourishment and tend to it. Stop convincing yourself that you need a vacation to feel better, do what you can with what you already have.