Over the Jubilee Bank Holiday weekend, I took a few extra days off for a holiday. It was lovely, thank you for asking
Being self-employed sometimes makes it hard to switch off from 'working'. I don't have set hours and can be thinking about work when I'm on the train, going to bed or even when it's supposed to be my day off. For many, we can struggle to be present on holiday or during time off and can end up working all hours of the day.
So whilst on holiday I thought I'd try a few things to help me be more present and I thought I'd share them and hope they are helpful for you too
Set phone to 'Focus' - iPhone has something under settings called 'Focus' which you can set up to allow notifications from certain apps or people - I made a custom one, called it 'Holiday' and I put this on the whole time I was away so I only saw text messages from my Mum, Dad, and closest friends and not from anyone else.
Switch off notifications - I usually have notifications popping up on my phone, so whilst on holiday I switched these off so I wouldn't be distracted!
No E-mail - I didn't check my emails at all. This was very challenging as it's a bit of a habit for me to check them regularly, but I found that without the little notification number I wasn't tempted to check them.
Exercise - I do a daily stretching and mobility routine when at home and whilst I didn't do the full routine every day, I tried to make time for a few mobility exercises either when I first woke up or just before going to bed. The Pilates exercise book openings is one of my favourites as you can do this in bed!
Read a book - We often pick up our phones just to browse so every time I wanted to pick up my phone, I picked up a book instead and read that for 5 minutes.
Do you have any tips I could use next time? Share in the comments below. If you struggle to be present whilst on holiday or would like to know more about the exercise book openings, then come and try one of my classes. At Present Pilates, we focus on being present when doing any movement, so why not book in for a class