I just got done with a full week of stay-cation from work (i.e. a vacation where you don’t go out of town). What were my plans? None. Why did I take this particular week off? No reason at all.
I took off a random week from work and dedicated it to family time. And guess what… it was incredible.
Don’t get me wrong. Trips are great. In fact, I have realized how special the memories of trips out of town are to kiddos of all ages. It doesn’t even have to be far or expensive. Kids tend to LOVE hotels!
With that being said though, there is a huge advantage of stay-cations as well. I have realized that there is something to the idea that time actually seems to slow down the less “busy” we are. There were days where we stayed at the house almost the whole day and it just felt like the day had more hours in it. It seemed like there was so much more time for family interaction, one on one time with the various nuggets, more meaningful conversation with my sweet wife. In other words, there is a huge “bang for your buck” if you can slow down and enjoy a slower paced time together.
Vacation time offers longer blocks to see this play out, but this is also true of your daily/weekly rhythm. Ensure you are dedicating enough time to just being together. Not only will you get more “bang for your buck” during this time, but it will make those trips, runs for ice cream or whatever that much more special.
p.s. An interesting side note is to take some time to think about what I have above in relation to the idea of the Sabbath from the Bible. This is a cool example where you feel inspiration and realize something cool about the way the world works and then afterwards go back and see that God had actually put the concept there for you, in one form or another, all along. Cool stuff.