I’ve been wanting to do a wellness weekend/trip for longer than I could think of. It just seemed so hard to plan when there were so many places on our travel lists. One of the biggest things Quarantine has taught me is making time for rest and play. As a Type A individual, I tend to plan out my days hour-by-hour, sometimes even down to the minute, which can result in high productivity at times but also high prospects for burnout. It was never an option for me to not put in 200% - whether it was with my friendships, my work, or my hobbies. Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to wake up without a plan or run without a desired goal/distance, but I know that my brain isn’t wired that way. However, I don’t think that recognizing that is an excuse to not incorporate the essential acts of rest and play.

There’s no better way to integrate these elements than on a trip. The challenge lies in recognizing that its difficult to plan “play and rest” but it is really achievable to set your intention to be comfortable with pivoting from the planned itinerary. My philosophy for trips is to put in the work ahead of time to plan and then when the trip is upon you, really do your best to be fully present and enjoy. The planning gives the structure necessary to complete the main items that were set out to be done, and the mindset is what will allow the trip to reap the benefits from the experience long after. On this trip we ended up shifting our plan from the second day itself due to weather. In addition to integrating rest and play, the following are some of my own personal wellness weekend recommendations:

1.      Gratitude

I made little gratitude jars that were paired with post it notes and a pen for us to end the night documenting items from the trip that we’re grateful for. This way, we can continue to add to it with other adventures and also look back and read these when we’re feeling down.

2.      Reflection

If you know us then you’ve likely heard of “prompted convos.” It’s only fitting that the creators of the term integrate their use heavily during the trip. For those who aren’t familiar, we discuss a topic that one chooses and share our opinion. What differentiates this from a normal conversation is the range we are able to cover by bringing up topics we don’t normally talk about and honestly speaking our mind about it.

3.      Habit Integration

In the past when I would go on trips, all of my positive habits and health/fitness progress would go entirely out of the door. It may have been the fact that these weren’t habits and just stints of time where I would do the act; working out, waking up early, eating healthy, etc. During Quarantine, I really honed down to build positive habits based on the values I wanted to identify with (Atomic Habits). I stopped snoozing and woke up early with excitement for my day. I exercised every day for more than just the goals. I finally mastered a morning/night routine that prioritizes my personal development. Lastly, I ate healthy for the positive physical and mental results. By integrating these into the trip I was able to still feel great during and after.

Gather your friends and calendar your next wellness weekend/trip!

Be sure to integrate the items before to maximum the experience during and after.