If a hardworking man or woman isn’t a symbol of America, I don’t know what is. Some of the most iconic images of our country portray farmers hard at work in the fields, while most of our movies are about an individual who is practically slave-driven by his or her tyrant boss. Many of the commercials that grace our televisions advertise coffee and energy drinks and perpetuate the idea that our first priority as working people is to stay away and keep going – hard – until we crash.
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So many families plan these elaborate weekend getaways, with fancy meals, set agendas and high expectations of what the weekend ahead will bring. Consequently, when the time actually comes to depart on their adventure, the whole family is stressed out, irritable and plain drained. None of these emotions makes for a very fun start to a vacation…
I’ve been on those family trips before – and even some of my husband’s and mine “romantic getaways” have gone this route – but after more than our fair share of yelling, name calling, bad tempers and stony silences, I put my foot down: If my family couldn’t vacation happily, we weren’t going to vacation at all. Well, obviously I couldn’t live without my vacations, so instead of banning fun, I invented my own vacation—the “Follow My 5 Rules and We’ll All Be Happy” vacation… Here are the rules my two children, my husband and myself must follow if any of us hope to travel together ever again: Rule #1: Choose a destination no more than 4 hours away. This is a road trip, and not a weeklong family vacay. Long drives alone stress people out, but when you only have two days to get somewhere, do everything you want to do and then get back home before the Monday commute, more than 4 hours on the road is way too much. In these instances, the shorter the drive, the better. Rule #2: Plan to eat, but don’t plan meals. Doing so will just result in excessive grocery shopping on your part, added stress when trying to figure out where to put all the danged food and unhappy faces when you try to enforce “meal times.” Rule #3: Time does not exist when on vacation. That means no enforced dinner times, bed times, bath times or swimming times. That also means that the moment you step out of your office on Friday afternoon, you’re officially on vacation, and therefore, rushing is not an option. If you get home and your family still isn’t packed, don’t get mad. If you care to speed things along, help them. If you don’t, make yourself a sandwich and wait until they’re good to go. If your 6 year old or significant other has to pee twenty times in the span of four hours, don’t get upset. Just use the extra bathroom breaks to stretch your legs, read a magazine or get some fresh air. The great thing about vacations is that you have nowhere you need to be. And the best thing you can do for your sanity and for the sanity of your family is to act like it. Rule #4: Don't have an agenda! Agenda's tie you down and keep you and everyone else from doing what they really want to be doing--having fun! Rule #5: Perfection is not an option. If you try to make everything perfect by trying to make everyone do what you think they should be doing, NO ONE will have fun. Let everyone be and you’ll see that vacationing really doesn’t have to be so hard. So, Mondays aren’t the easiest to deal with? As someone who rents out vacation homes for a living, I understand this better than most. Yet, like the rest of you, I still get up at the crack of dawn and do what I need to do to make a living: Work.
But even though I make a living off of vacationing, I find it difficult to truly dread the work-week. And not because I don’t have a lot of work to do throughout the week (trust me, I do!), but rather, because I find little things to enjoy and celebrate to get me through my days. For instance, the promise of a hot cup of coffee is what gets me out of bed each morning. The thought of an afternoon lunch break in the sun is what gets me through the morning work. And knowing that a glass of wine and a hot tub is waiting for me at home is what propels me to finish off the day on a strong note. So, if you dread Mondays as much as the next person, and if you’re still finding it hard to come up with a few things to be happy about today, check out this list of 15 things that are guaranteed to make you smile on this much dreaded day of the week…(hint: some of these involve penguins, pigs on a beach and Mickey and Minnie Mouse): http://www.savvysugar.com/Facts-Make-You-Smile-32288928 |