Oh, [inaudible 00:00:01] We’ve gone live. That was random. Turned my wifi off there. It wasn’t kind of working, so I don’t know what happened. Tonight I want to talk about holidayitis, that dreaded, dreaded condition that you get after you’ve been on a holiday. When you start contemplating your navel, and wondering why the hell you got back on the plane and came home. When you get stuck back into things like shopping lists and to-do lists and phone calls and chasing things up, and what garbage day, and washing and stuff like that. And you start looking backwards and thinking, “Oh, I miss my holiday. I miss this, this, this, this, this, this, and this.” And what’s prompted this today is, I wrote about it in my journal when I was journaling this morning. So, I actually wrote out 10 things I felt I was missing about being away.
Now, remember I was away for four and a half weeks. So, it’s a fair chunk of time to get us settled into the new norm. So, these are some of the things I was missing. One on one time with [Elidy 00:01:16] Like serious one on one time. Not just a floating five seconds here, 10 minutes there kind of thing. Serious time. Clean towels every day, and a freshly made bed. No cooking. Even though I love cooking, I enjoyed not cooking. Or not thinking about what I had to cook may be might be more to the point. Hotel breakfast. What’s not to love about a good hotel breakfast? New things to do. New experiences, new places to go, and new things to see. Museums, book shops, cafes, markets, palaces, churches, you name it. Less email, social media and phone time. Yes. I miss not having less of that.
I miss… Oh, I can’t read that seven. Oops. I can’t read my own writing. Not the first time that’s happened, is it? I’ll have to think about that one. I miss having less choice on some things, and more choice on other things. So less choice on things like clothes, more choice on things like what are we going to do? Where are we going to go? That kind of thing. So I had more choice because of freedom of time, but less choice because of situational stuff. I miss having conversations with strangers. Yeah. I know. I just like striking up conversations. Especially because of what’s been going on in Australia over the last few weeks, there was so many conversations with strangers. Probably more than I’ve had on other trips, I think, I would say. Not having to do things with other people, or to think about other people.
God, that makes me sound like a selfish bitch, but you know what I mean. To not have to constantly be, “I’ve got to get this done for so-and-so. This done for so-and-so. There for so-and-so. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.” That kind of thing. So, I miss… That’s already started again. I’ve got to do this, [inaudible 00:03:16] So, I kind of miss that. Now this is not me having a [winjy-winejy-mo 00:03:21] because I’m super grateful to be home, and I love home, and I had a great trip. But what it’s triggered is, how can I… Those things that I miss, or those things that you miss after a holiday, how can you bring more of them into your day to day life? And I probably had more control over this when Elidy was a lot smaller. Especially in the one on one time, and new experiences things to do, but just going through that list, there’s all sorts of things I could do.
I could absolutely make sure there’s more one on one time with Elidy. I could absolutely outsource it. Hire someone to… I do make my bed everyday, but gosh it was nice having someone else doing it. That’s not on my to do list at the moment, but you never know. No cooking. Well, Elidy cooks three nights a week anyway, so maybe I need to simplify the weeks my cooking, and maybe we eat out more or maybe I make it a bit easier in that regard as well. And new things to do. Oh my God, we’re in Sydney, I’m in Sydney. I could come up with new things to do every single day. There are so many things to explore in the city. And I think when you’re in your hometown, you don’t do it. When Elidy was little, we’d have staycations, or we’d just go off and do something for the day, which was really, really interesting.
And as she’s gotten older, and as I’ve gotten busier with business, we don’t do it so often, so… But I love doing that while we’re away, so I’m absolutely going to be exploring more of Sydney City and surrounds. Absolutely. [inaudible 00:04:59] people. Less choice, more choice. Well, I can make life easier for myself in that too. Maybe I ditch some of my clothes? Maybe I get more of a streamlined wardrobe, so I’m not thinking, “What am I going to wear today?” I know decision fatigue. Yeah. I’ve talked about that before. Conversations with strangers. Well, there is nothing to stop me chatting to the person up at the IGA today, when I went and got my milk. Okay? I could have done it, but I didn’t. So, I don’t know why. I chat with strangers in environments like the theater, bars, things where that I can see there’s already a common interest. [inaudible 00:05:38] or shops, things like that.
But I haven’t done that much since I got back, so that one I need to up. And it’s a boundaries thing, with the not having to think so much, or do so much, or be in so many other places for other people. And I’m acutely aware of that, and I’m sure many of you are too. So it’s about, we don’t need to worry about those boundaries when we’re away, because distance makes it not a problem. So, it’s about being reminded of that, with what was happening, while you’re away, and putting that into practice when you are at home. And saying no more often, and putting yourself first and going, “No. That doesn’t work this week.” It’s not that hard to do, okay? We just got to do it. Don’t slip back into the norm after your holidays.
I missed one. Less email, social media and phone. No brainer. I’ve actually found it really hard to do a little bit more social media when I got back. So yeah, I’m going to keep an eye on what I’m doing in that arena? And I think all of us are probably spending way too much time on our devices, whether it’s phone calls, emails, social apps, games, whatever it is we’re doing. So stepping away from that, I think is a really good time. The most I use my phone for while I was away, was taking photos. And we took some great photos, because we had a great time. So, they’re my little tips for holidayitis. Work out what it is you miss about being on holiday. What makes you feel so great about being in those places or exploring new places, and see what you can take out of that holiday fabulousness, and bring it back into everyday life. That’s what I’m going to be working on, and I encourage you to do the same thing. Okay, bye. See you tomorrow.