Finding Flow: When Staying Home Becomes the Greatest Adventure

After 20 months without a proper vacation, I finally took two weeks and had a nice staycation. I was on the verge of burnout.

Until not too long ago, vacations were for traveling, and I couldn’t imagine taking time off to stay at home! But a few years ago, I had to deal with a very stressful period in my personal life and was almost forced by my lovely lead at the time to take time off, even if it meant staying at home. I will always be grateful to that compassionate and wise leader.

I followed the instructions and had probably the best two weeks off ever! This was in 2023. Fast forward to 2025, and I decided to do the same. But life had a few different plans for me, and I started my staycation with a trip to the hospital for a fast and straightforward procedure (everything is fine!). Despite the brief 15-minute stint in the operating room, I still had to recover for five days. So, no going to the lake (it’s summer!), no biking, no hiking. Five long days.

On one of those days, I was so bored that I thought I wouldn’t make it! I knitted, I watched movies, I read, I cleaned, I opened the door numerous times for Bruce to go out, and time stood still. A few podcasts later, I realized we live in a world so full of stimulus and information that when you have it, but not at the rate you’re used to, you get lost. This was only day four of a 16-day break. And no, I wasn’t craving routine. I was craving something else…

On day six, I was able to go to the lake for a swim. It was a short but so refreshing swim with my dog and friends. Connection. Something shifted that day. And for the next 12 days, I lived. I didn’t create a routine, I didn’t set anything in stone. I went with the flow. In this case, flow meant weather. I would wake up and look outside, check the temperature, and decide what to do. I checked the weather forecast a few times, but it’s not reliable here, and things can change unexpectedly.

So, I went with the flow! 🙂

On day eight, I took off for a two-day, one-night road trip with Bruce to visit some lakes. The furthest one was almost three hours away, so I checked with a friend, who decided to join us, and I spent the night there instead of driving back home. It was perfect! More connection (are you seeing a pattern?). The next day, I left relatively early to complete my loop, visiting three more lakes and driving on an interesting dirt road…

I came back home and explored a longer route, one I had never done in full. The last of the days off were spent locally, enjoying the lake, embracing the weather (we had some showers and thunderstorms here and there), and obsessively hiking and downhill biking at Silverstar—the reason we moved to this region six summers ago. I fell in love with downhill biking all over again, and I started shifting my mind to an exercise I did over 20 years ago, when I would climb solo the Sugar Loaf in Rio three, four, five times a week as my exercise. I may have climbed it over 100 times and learned to enjoy every single one of them.

When I hike at Silverstar, I start by going up a steep trail and then come down using another one. A loop. A circuit almost 6 km long, through beautiful mountain terrain and sprinkled with wildflowers in bloom. I take the same route every time (which means around five times in one week during my time off!). I started calling it my “Sugar Loaf,” and despite feeling weak at the beginning or having the sensation that I couldn’t keep going, I simply kept putting one foot in front of the other until I was done.

Being in the moment, enjoying every step, every corner of the way, and knowing that this was only the beginning of a satisfying 2.5 to 3 hours of exercise each day. After hiking, I would leave Bruce “camping” in the car and go for my two runs down the flow trails, pushing myself a bit out of my comfort zone. It was glorious! No social media, no phone, no pictures while biking (only a few while hiking!). I can’t imagine a better way to recharge than connecting with nature and my body.

It took some effort and perseverance, but the result was so worth it.

And you? How do you recharge?