Take A Vacation, For Yourself!

We always want to look our best, impress our boss, manage our finances, take care of our families, have tidy homes, keep in touch with friends, exercise, eat healthy, and get a decent amount of sleep; all without losing our sense of self (or our minds) in the process. I’ve thought to myself on many occasions, “How do women do it?” The demands today seem nearly impossible to handle on our own, and yet we manage each day on some level, always with determination and never without struggle. Lately, I’ve felt like the struggle has been more than usual and the obvious solution was for me to take a break so I could regroup and come back refreshed.

However, since moving to Chicago my vacation time has been spent traveling back South to visit friends and family over the holidays.  Considering how hectic the holidays are, I never feel like I get much of a “vacation”.  Taking a vacation for myself to go somewhere fabulous to de-stress and relax seemed a little selfish… luckily, to my surprise, not only did my parents agree with the fact that I needed to get away but they thought of a grand idea that would allow me to have some much needed R&R and allow us to visit part of the time.

Within a couple weeks, I was laying on the beach in Kauai reading a book and feeling completely relaxed.  It was by far the most perfect vacation I’ve ever been on before.  After some much needed “calm time” in Kauai, I went to Oahu where we stayed with our friends, John and Stephanie, in Kailua in their gorgeous new home that has these amazing lanais that look out over the island.  I honestly considered not coming back I was so content there.  And while most of my vacation was relaxing, John managed to persuade me into skydiving before I returned to the mainland.

Below are a few pictures from the trip I wanted to share.  More than anything I realized how important it is to take a vacation for myself more often.  Since returning to the city, I have felt more refreshed and grounded than I have in a long time.  I think it’s easy to feel like we need to meet certain obligations first before we do things for ourselves but I’m starting to realize that the first obligation we need to take care of IS ourself.  Mahalo

Posted by Independent Belle at 11:12 pm | in General | Comments (1)