Do you ever feel tired? Emotionally drained? Every once in a while, I get that way. I start dwelling too much on my problems and not enough on my blessings. So, what can you and I do to get out of the funk?
I decided to take a cue from Bob Wiley, in What About Bob? and take a vacation from my problems. Even the planning gave me a boost. I looked at my 100 Self-Care Activities for Body, Mind, and Spirit, and chose some things to do.
The next morning I woke up singing to my husband, “I’m taking a vacation from my problems!” Just saying it aloud made me happy. He said, “Go for it!” After all, what’s good for me is good for him, right?
My first day, I drove him to work and cranked up a Taylor Dayne CD in the car. Taylor can get your blood pumping, which was just what I needed to start my vacation.
At home, I burned a candle. My favorite candle is Circle E Candles—THE Candle for People Who Know Candles. This one is Orange Vanilla. It smells divine.
Circle E candle Orange Vanilla
I ate lunch with my husband at the Whitney House in Worthington. As I ate my turkey sandwich with brie, I did my best imitation of Bob, mesmerized by the deliciousness of it all. Mmmm. So good! I dropped hubby back to work and went to Cinemark to see the Disneynature movie, Penguins.
Disneynature’s Penguins at Cinemark
Now, I planned to use my refillable tub to buy myself popcorn for the incredibly low price of $4.75, but I was stuffed from lunch and decide to do this another time. When I bought my $5.00 matinee ticket, the cashier asked me to pick my seat. Was the theater really packed? Ok, um, I chose the last row, center seat, the primo seat in the house, and when I entered the theater, I discovered I was all by myself. Cool! Time to use my phone during the whole movie. Just kidding.
You might think that a Disney movie about penguins would be family-friendly. It wasn’t. Sure, penguins are fun to watch because they aren’t very graceful and do a lot of slipping and sliding. The plot was about Steve, a five-year-old Adélie penguin making his first adult visit to his birthplace to start his own family. But I was a bit irritated at how Steve was made out to be an oaf, always apologizing for, well, just being there.
Here’s the not family-friendly part: those leopard seals. I hate leopard seals. Any parent who takes their kid to see Penguins will do well to take their youngsters out during this part, which comes at the end of the movie.
Don’t worry, it ends well, and Steve and his family live on to see another day. Whew!
The exciting and unexpected part about taking a vacation from my problems is that I solved a nagging problem. Or rather, my husband and I solved a problem. The problem was that whenever I drive, my husband wants to tell me where to go, what lane to be in, etc. It’s annoying. The solution we found was for him to read uplifting articles out loud.
So, how about it? Join me in taking a vacation from your problems. Stay tuned for more vacation adventures and solutions.
