Just because your vacation plans have been disrupted doesn’t mean you can’t treat yourself like you are on vacation. The term “shelter in place” is quite beautiful in and of itself. It invokes the feeling of finding security in a sense of place. At this moment, we can’t go anywhere. There’s nowhere to jet off to. No work trips or vacations are to be had. Instead, you are where you are. Instead of wishing for something else, why not indulge in your sense of place and Be? Here. Now?
Find new ways to connect to your home, escape from your work-from-home routine, shake things up, or channel your favorite destinations while never leaving your home. May “shelter in place” be an invitation to learn to love where you live. It’s impossible to connect to a place when we move at a frenetic pace, always going somewhere but often being nowhere. May this forced slow down bring about an awakening and a reconnection to place.
The below list could be used as a creative way to find joy in Sheltering in Place or to create your own Park City staycation vibes over the weekend:
- Learn and research your hometown and neighborhood. Connect to the stories about the current place you live.
- Learn about the Native people, plants, trees, and animals of your hometown.
- Bring back rituals of place and time – wake up early to see the sunrise and celebrate the sunsets.
- Light candles that smell like the forest or ocean.
- Have a picnic in your living room or on your deck, porch, or patio.
- Camp out – set up your tent and your sleeping bags in your house or on your lawn.
- Cook a delicious meal and set the table as if you were at a fancy restaurant.
- Boogie down with a dance party.
- Have a theme night where everyone dresses up – make it luau, make it western, or make it a black tie.
- Grab some cocktails and head to social media and find your favorite recording artist and see if they are playing any virtual live performances. You will feel like you are at your own intimate concert venue.
- Celebrate the end of the workday with Happy Hour.
- Host a virtual play by sending scripts to friends.
- Cook and have dinner with friends virtually.
- Have a spa day – give yourself a facial, manicure, pedicure, or bubble bath, or give your partner a relaxing massage.
- Light incense and meditate.
- Create your own yoga retreat by setting a schedule of yoga classes you’d like to attend over the weekend.
- Close your eyes and remember your favorite vacation spot and try to paint it from memory.
- Create a Spotify playlist with some of your favorite vacation tunes.
- Brainstorm your dream vacation destination and create a playlist from that destination.
- Hang a Hammock and just relax.
- Change your sheets or purchase some new high quality really comfortable sheets and a comforter that makes your bed feel like you are staying at a 5-star hotel.
- Cook Outside.
- Take a virtual tour of the National Parks.
- Create a Zen Bathroom by adding some tranquil plants.
- Dine Al Fresco.
- Bring the outdoors in – add lots of plants to your house to give it a jungle tropical vibe.
- Read a guilty pleasure vacation book.
- Place a vase of flowers in your foyer.
- Don your robe at all times.
- Unplug – put your phones, tablets, and computers in a drawer–padlocked if necessary–and spend the weekend like you’re on a desert island.
- Eat Exotic Foods – roll your own pasta or create a creamy coconut Thai curry.
- Throw your very own Film Festival – pick a theme, from beach movies to French thrillers, and hunker down for a lazy weekend of nothin’ but movies.
- Learn a new cocktail or try a new wine.
- Incorporate elements of your favorite hotel or spa – make a list of the top 10 items that remind you of that place: the scenery, the scents, the view, the colors, and particular designs and see if you can find replicas of these pieces and add them to your outdoor areas or home.
- If you desire a true paradise in your own backyard, go ahead and add elements that remind you of your favorite retreats.
- Perfect the art of the nap.
- Create an at-home photo booth session with costumes and hats and use the timer on your phone.
- Take a bike ride around the neighborhood and explore streets you’ve never been down.
- Try forest bathing taking time to meander through a local trail and experience the scenery as if you’ve never been on this trail before.